"I wish the people of both countries good luck, family happiness, health and safety, and immediate success!" On February 16, local time, the Lunar New Year's Eve, the third Moscow "Happy Spring Festival" event kicked off grandly in the center of Moscow.
Manesh Square and Revolution Square, located next to the Kremlin, are the main venues for this event. At the opening ceremony, Chinese Ambassador to Russia Zhang Hanhui said that the love and attention that Chinese and Russian people attach to traditional festivals reflects their common values - the protection of traditional culture, the inheritance of cultural heritage, the love for family and motherland, and the tolerance, respect and appreciation of different cultures.
From the opening to March 1, there will be a daily New Year market, food experiences, theatrical performances, traditional culture and intangible cultural heritage workshops and other rich activities. Visitors can make traditional festival ornaments with their own hands, participate in animation shows and theater interactions, tie wishing ribbons on a simulated "Moscow-Beijing" train, and send blessing postcards to China for free through the "Russian Post" New Year Post Office, immersing themselves in the festive atmosphere of the Spring Festival. This is also the longest Spring Festival celebration in Moscow.
On February 16, local time, the eve of the Chinese Lunar New Year, the third Moscow "Happy Spring Festival" event kicked off grandly in the center of Moscow. The picture shows the Guangdong English singing and dancing performance. Photo by China News Service reporter Tian Bing
More than 60 iconic places in Moscow, including the Russian State Library, Tver Square, Moscow Zoo, All-Russian Exhibition Center, Moscow China Trade Center, and Greenwood Park, were decorated and dressed in festive Chinese red, and celebrations started simultaneously. For the first time, the event invited 7 delegations from Beijing, Inner Mongolia, Henan, Zhejiang, Guangdong, and Hainan to make a special trip to Russia to carry out Spring Festival cultural exchanges and present the best of Chinese culture. Among them, programs such as Peking opera and acrobatics in Beijing, Mongolian band in Inner Mongolia, martial arts and folk music in Henan, Wu opera and string puppets in Zhejiang, English singing and dancing in Guangdong, and dance and instrumental music of the Li ethnic group in Hainan will be staged in Moscow. Many of these art categories will be displayed in Russia for the first time.
Local sinologists, Chinese culture enthusiasts, overseas Chinese and international students in Moscow jointly organized more than 20 theatrical performances and 120 in-depth cultural experience activities, covering calligraphy and painting, tea art, Hanfu, paper-cutting and other representative intangible cultural heritage items. More than 30 hotels and more than 140 restaurants in the city have simultaneously launched Spring Festival themed packages and special offers. Special projects such as Spring Festival-themed subway trains, light shows, Go tournaments, and "Beautiful China" photo exhibitions will also be launched one after another. With the theme of "Happy Spring Festival", the organizers are also collecting outstanding photography works from all over Russia. The winners will be invited to China for cultural visits and exchanges.
In addition, at the beginning of the China-Russia Education Year, the Chinese Embassy in Russia will organize representatives from relevant universities, Confucius Institutes and international students to hold Education Day themed activities in Manesh Square to carry out interactive exchanges such as promotion of Chinese universities, cultural displays, and knowledge Q&A.
On February 16, local time, the eve of the Chinese Lunar New Year, the third Moscow "Happy Spring Festival" event kicked off grandly in the center of Moscow. The picture shows Russian children taking a group photo at the event. Photo by China News Service reporter Tian Bing
Behind the cultural integration is a deeper people-to-people bond. Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zakharova said that this will be a wonderful and lively event. The Spring Festival event is becoming more and more popular in Russia. Last year's "Happy Spring Festival" event's pictures, videos and news reports received extremely high views, which is rare. "I believe that the attention this year will not be inferior, or even higher."
The latest Russian poll data shows that the number of Russian people reading and watching Chinese New Year-themed content has increased by 35% compared with the same period last year, and platform content about the Spring Festival has also increased by 40%. In 2026, 41% of the respondents expressed their intention to participate in the Spring Festival celebrations, and another 33% of the respondents said that although they did not plan to celebrate officially, they were very interested in its traditional customs and the symbolic meaning of the year. Among those who plan to celebrate the Spring Festival, the most popular forms are themed dinners and experiences of traditional Chinese cuisine, as well as themed festive cultural activities.
"Happy Spring Festival" is not only a cultural resonance, but also a vivid footnote to the friendship between China and Russia. As Ambassador Zhang Hanhui said, the people of the two countries jointly celebrate the beautiful festival to welcome spring, which has a beautiful meaning and will continue to write touching chapters of Sino-Russian friendship. (over)
