People's Daily Online, Astana, February 24 (Reporter Li Qiang) On February 24, the Confucius Institute of Eurasia University in Kazakhstan and the Astana Light Rail Project Department of China Construction Sixth Bureau jointly held the 2024 Lantern Festival theme cultural activities. Nearly 100 people, including teachers and students of the Confucius Institute at Eurasian University, representatives of the Astana Light Rail Project Department of China Construction Sixth Bureau, and Chinese enthusiasts and martial arts enthusiasts in the Astana region, gathered at the Confucius Institute Cultural Center to make lanterns, admire lanterns, and guess lantern riddles.
The scene of the event. Courtesy of the Confucius Institute.
Yang Lei, the Chinese director of the Confucius Institute, delivered an opening speech and introduced the cultural meaning of the Chinese New Year and Lantern Festival to the local citizens and students who came to participate in the event, and offered them the best wishes for reunion, harmony and beauty.
Under the guidance of the Confucius Institute teachers, the participants made their own lanterns, first cutting out the outer layer of the lantern with scissors, then lining it with colored paper rolled into a cylindrical shape, and using the colored paper cut into a tassel shape as the hem.
The scene of the event. Courtesy of the Confucius Institute.
After the lantern is made, the next step is to guess the lantern riddle. The lantern riddles are all written in Chinese and hung on red lanterns, which is very festive. Whenever someone guesses the riddle correctly, congratulatory gongs and drums will sound on the scene, praising the wisdom of the answerer. The lantern riddle of the first prize was guessed by a Kazakh grandmother: "99+1!."I see, the mystery is the lily! She said excitedly. Everyone came and went, and truly experienced the fun of the Lantern Festival!
The scene of the event. Courtesy of the Confucius Institute.
This activity aims to jointly provide cultural activities for Chinese lovers in the capital region of Kazakhstan through school-enterprise cooperation, so that the people of Kazakhstan can experience the atmosphere of traditional Chinese festivals and Chinese culture, stimulate students' interest in learning Chinese, and build a bridge for cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries.
The scene of the event. Courtesy of the Confucius Institute.