Observer for international issues: Xing Yu.
One is renewed, and everything is renewed. The Spring Festival is one of the oldest and most important traditional festivals in Chinese culture, and it is a festive day for thousands of families to reunite and bid farewell to the old and welcome the new. The Spring Festival of the Year of the Dragon that has just passed made us sincerely sigh that digital empowerment of traditional culture has made the Spring Festival, which has a history of more than 4,000 years, "different red". About 9 billion people are more comfortable and convenient for the Spring Festival, mobile phones are ready for the New Year, drones are dazzling dancing to illuminate the fire trees and silver flowers never sleep, AI brings an immersive experience of ancient Spring Festival customs and etiquette, and the poet Li Bai "travels" through the millennium and reverses poetry with everyone.
At the same time, we are also pleased to see that the "circle of friends" of the Chinese New Year is constantly expanding. Nearly 20 countries around the world have made the Spring Festival an official holiday, and about 1 5 percent of the world's population celebrates the Lunar New Year in different forms. On 22 December 2023, the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution by consensus to designate the Chinese New Year (Chinese New Year) as a United Nations holiday. In this Jiachen Lunar New Year, we have witnessed the creative transformation and innovative development of China's excellent traditional culture in the process of modernization. We have witnessed that the Chinese New Year is becoming more and more internationalized and has become a festival celebrated by the whole world.
The Spring Festival embodies people's yearning for peace and tranquility since ancient times. Chinese and foreign friends who are familiar with the folk customs of the Spring Festival know that there is a legend that there is a beast of one year, which comes out on the occasion of saying goodbye to the old and welcoming the new, and is a disaster. Later, people learned that the Nian beast was afraid of sound and red, and since then there have been customs of wearing red clothes, hanging red lights, pasting couplets, and setting off firecrackers for the New Year, which has become a symbol of Chinese's yearning for peace and protecting tranquility. In traditional Chinese culture, there is a concept of peace in which "peace is precious", and the Chinese nation has always been committed to creating a harmonious, stable, peaceful and tranquil internal and external environment. However, as we celebrate the Lunar New Year, there are still some places in the world where the smoke of war is still burning, many people are living in dire straits, and the world is full of tension and anxiety. Global challenges call for global thinking, global cooperation and global action. As a responsible major country, China will always maintain the continuity and stability of its major policies and remain a stabilizing force in a turbulent world. China is ready to work with all parties to address global challenges, seek common security and achieve common development.
The Spring Festival of the Year of the Dragon shows the world that China's economy is vibrant. The ** Economic Work Conference held at the end of 2023 pointed out that consumption will be promoted to shift from post-epidemic recovery to continuous expansion. China's Ministry of Commerce has designated 2024 as the "Year of Consumption Promotion" and will hold a series of consumption promotion activities. With the efforts of a number of policies, China's consumption potential has been continuously released and its consumption structure has been continuously upgraded. Driven by favorable policies such as mutual visa exemption, convenient customs clearance and resumption of air routes, Chinese and foreign tourists will travel in both directions this Spring Festival, making the Spring Festival a peak period for global tourism consumption. Chinese tourists have traveled to more than 1,700 cities in 125 countries around the world. The total cost of domestic tourists is 63268.7 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 473%；A total of 1,351 are guaranteed by border inspection authorities across the country70,000 Chinese and foreign personnel entered and exited, with a daily average of 1.69 million passengers, an increase of 2 over the same period last year8 times. The hot outbound travel has also allowed the world to share the Spring Festival consumption dividend. The United Nations Tourism Organization (UNWTO) expects the recovery of China's inbound and outbound tourism to accelerate in 2024, driving the recovery of the global tourism market. China's economy has always been dynamic and resilient, and the long-term positive momentum has become more obvious. Last year with 5The 2% growth rate contributed one-third of the world's growth, and this year's booming Spring Festival consumption fully demonstrated the advantages of China's super-large-scale market, bringing spring warmth to the global economy, and will release greater benefits to the world in the future. On the way forward, we will focus on realizing Chinese-style modernization, unswervingly promote high-level opening-up, provide more certainty for the world with our own stability, and provide more new opportunities for the world with our new development.
The Spring Festival goes to the world, which is a vivid embodiment of the exchanges and mutual learning between Chinese civilization and other civilizations, and the sharing of beauty and beauty. The Spring Festival inherits the traditional Chinese cultural concepts of peace, harmony and harmony. The values and humanistic spirit conveyed by the Spring Festival have transcended national boundaries and cultural differences, and have been resonated and recognized by people all over the world. From the East to the West, from the Northern Hemisphere to the Southern Hemisphere, countries around the world are lit up with "China Red", sharing a joyful and festive atmosphere and experiencing the splendid and colorful Chinese culture. At the United Nations, envoys from various countries have experienced Spring Festival customs such as making dumplings, writing blessing characters, and cutting paper. New Zealand Prime Minister Rakson attended the "Chinese New Year Flower Market Fun Day" in Auckland to welcome the Year of the Dragon with thousands of local Chinese. China's Puning Nanshan Ying Song Troupe was invited to perform in the UK during the Spring Festival, attracting 700,000 onlookers on the streets of London, and the topic of "London blowing British singing and dancing" appeared on many hot search lists. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, USA, held a celebration of "Happy New Year", with dragon dance performances, wood-block New Year paintings, and special exhibitions for the Year of the Dragon. Lanterns hang high on the streets of Malaysia, and the youth dragon dance team dances a "long dragon" of nearly 200 meters, which is spectacular. Recife, Brazil, held a grand Spring Festival celebration in the well-known landmark Zero Point Square, where people sang and danced in the festive Zodiac Fuwa light show. Gently opening the window of the "Spring Festival", the international community's understanding, respect and support for traditional Chinese culture are increasing day by day. We all look forward to exchanges among civilizations transcending the estrangement of civilizations, mutual learning among civilizations transcending the clash of civilizations, and inclusiveness among civilizations transcending the superiority of civilizations.
In traditional Chinese culture, the dragon symbolizes justice, strength, courage and progress. We also hope that in the Year of the Dragon, the spirit of the dragon can inject strong impetus into the international community, promote unity and cooperation, and create a better future!
*:Xinhua.