The Chinese Spring Festival is the most important holiday in China. For the duration of the festival, the Chinese people visit their families and organise special celebrations and activities. Confucius Institute Maastricht has organized several activities so that the Dutch people can get acquainted with cultural activities in China. On 22, 23 and 24th of February, the Confucius Institute held 3 days worth of fun workshops.
On 22 February 2018 we started off with a paper cutting and calligraphy workshop. Calligraphy is the artistic way to write Chinese characters. During the paper cutting the participants learned how to create the character for double happiness ‘囍’, and during the calligraphy class they learned how to write the character ‘福'(fu) which means fortune. The Chinese have a habit of creating symbols of good fortune (then again, you ever hear about anyone doing the opposite?).
The next day was the dumpling (饺子=jiaozi) workshop. In a very interesting and satisfying workshop our Chinese teachers showed how to make dumplings, one the most popular snacks in China. From making the dough and the stuffing to eating the dumplings, the participants got to follow every step of the process. It is a fact that they enjoyed the last step the most.
Saturday was the last day of activities. They were a series of games for young kids, like trying to pick up peanuts with chopsticks. Those that succeeded, will never have trouble using chopsticks again.
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