Virtually experience the Chinese New Year

Because organizing an exhibition at the Center is not within the realm of possibilities this year, we’re bringing the exhibitions to your screen! The 2021 “Happy Chinese New Year” includes some virtual experiences to get in the Spring Festival mood. 

  • Chinese New Year traditions

Amidst the festive season, the world unites in solidarity and welcomes a new Spring Festival. This virtual exhibition introduces Chinese New Year customs, traditions and stories through videos, scenarios and interactive exhibits. Visitors will experience the exuberance of the Spring Festival and its unique cultural charms.

Designed in the style of a traditional Chinese dwelling, the exhibition hall is divided into three segments:

  • natural festivals (welcoming the new year: a time of renewal),
  • family festivals (celebrating the new year: family reunion and happiness),
  • world festivals (sharing the new year: shared celebrations and future).

Walk through the halls and share the joy and blessings of the new year with the people of the world!

Discover the virtual exhibition HERE

  • Longquan celadon

The Longquan Celadon Experience Tour features the only element of Chinese porcelain culture to be included in the UNESCO List of Intangible Cultural Heritage: celadon.

Amidst the joyous atmosphere of Spring Festival celebrations, the Experience Tour uses brand-new technology to allow people from all over the world to interact with traditional Chinese culture online. The Experience Tour invites the audience to “visit” Longquan to experience how the culture of its exquisite celadon has been preserved over centuries by porcelain masters.

Through a full 3D-interactive environment, visitors can see for themselves how the Longquan celadon manufacturing process transforms clay, mined from deep in forested mountains, into stunning pieces of art. Visitors will finally be able to experience how Longquan’s celadon culture has dazzled the world over the centuries.

Discover the virtual exhibition HERE

  • New Charm of Collections

To contribute to the festive season, let’s tell the story of Chinese cultural relics with creativity. The “New Charm of Collections” virtual exhibition for Chinese New Year highlights cultural and creative products from more than twenty museums and cultural institutions.

The Spring Festival theme is established as modern ideas are integrated. The exhibition displays 130 pieces of cultural and creative products and focuses on six themes: farewell to the old and welcome to the new, cultural diversity, revitalizing cultural relics, smart Chinese characters, Spring Festival celebrations and Spring Festival couplets.

Injecting new vitality into cultural relics, the themes show the changes of the festival, the gifts, the culture and technology, the innovation and exploration. Like this, the cultural relics come to life again and become part of our social life. It’s a way of respecting the classics and celebrating the new year together!

Discover the virtual exhibition HERE

  • Chinese woodcut paintings

Having evolved alongside other traditional customs, Chinese New Year’s paintings are a symbol of the Spring Festival culture. It is a special decorative folk art of that carries the good wishes and joyous pursuits in the daily lives of Chinese people.

This virtual exhibition displays 52 works of Chinese New Year’s paintings. What is special about these exhibits is that they are all woodcut pieces. There’s an assortment of different display methods: a 720-degree panoramic exhibition hall, a video demonstration of the printing process, 720-degree engraving display, animation and more! These all show the rich folk customs and artistic charm of Chinese woodcut New Year’s paintings.

Discover the exhibition HERE

  • The Chinese zodiac: happy Year of the Ox!

As an important part of Chinese folk culture, the Chinese zodiac is a repeating cycle of twelve years. Every year is represented by one of twelve animals: rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog and pig. Each animal symbolizes a particular set of virtues that is still influential to this day.

Since 2015, the “Global Zodiac Design Competition”, sponsored by Beijing City, has been selecting and displaying the works of many designers, teacher or student, from around the world. The competition has promoted the innovative development and transformation of this classic cultural tradition, from which many excellent works have emerged.

This virtual exhibition of Chinese zodiac design brings together outstanding contemporary zodiac artworks from eleven countries, including zodiac-themed bronze mirrors, figurines, murals, paintings, coins, seals, paper-cut art and stamps. As we ring out the old year and ring in the new in this season of vitality, let us bid farewell to the Rat and say hello to the Ox. We wish you all the best in the coming Year of the Ox!

Discover the exhibition HERE