On Wednesday 14, there will be a workshop in the head office for children and adults addressing “papercutting for decorating houses during the Chinese New Year”.  This activity commemorates one of the traditional tasks conducted in China during the celebration of the Chinese New Year (also known as Spring Festivity). Paper clippings are an icon of their culture, and they are used to decorate doors and windows. This is the reason why it is also called “Window Flowers”.  The following day, on Thursday 15, ICUV Professor Li Yuling will conduct a talk addressing “How the Chinese New Year is prepared?” It will cover the most interesting aspects of the festive idiosyncrasy related to this important celebration that in China lasts two weeks.

The most important activity of the Chinese New Year will take place on Saturday 17 of February. A Chinese culture exhibition will be held at the Town Hall Square. It will be formed by several tents so that the visitors can admire the rich and varied civilization of this country. You can visit it on the morning and the afternoon.  Among these tents, there will be one belonging to ICUV, those of the Chinese entrepreneurs and traders associations in the Valencian Community and other public and private ones. You will be able to participate in calligraphy activities, tee-making, Chinese knot and decoration papers among others.

On Saturday afternoon from 18:30 p.m. the procession of Chinese New Year will take place. It will go from Pelayo Street to the Town Hall Square. This will be the 7th edition celebrated in Valencia. It is organized by different associations of Chinese entrepreneurs and traders in cooperation with the City Council of Valencia and the Confucius Institute of the Universitat de València. Different folkloric and cultural groups which are known in among Valencian citizens will join the procession. During the tour, the public will be able to admire taiji and wushu exhibitions, which are full contact sports resulting from traditional disciplines. They include numerous stunts.  Naturally, lion and dragon dances will enliven a procession that is going to cheer up with light and colour one of the neighbourhoods with more Chinese presence in Valencia.  When the retinue arrives to the Town Hall Square, it will be received by the municipal authorities.

On Tuesday 20, ICUV organizes in the ground floor of El Corte Inglés de Pintor Sorolla a presentation addressing the traditional Chinese calendar for this year 4716.  Confucius Institute will gift customized calendars (it will include the name of the owner in Chinese calligraphy) in an exhibition in charge of Professor Adan Liu, who collaborates with ICUV.  This means that each interested person will take home an almanac with his own name transcribed phonetically to Chinese and written in this language.

Finally, on the 1st of March, the “Chinese lantern” workshop will take place in the head office at Blasco Ibáñez for the general public. Attendants will be able to know how to elaborate them and the cultural tradition behind them. Known as the Festivity of the Chinese lanterns, it is celebrated 15 days after the beginning of the year and puts an end to the commemorative celebrations of Chinese New Year or Spring Festivity. 

ICUV started his activity at the Universitat de València in 2007 and has its counterpart in the Chinese Northeast Normal University in Changchun (capital of the province Jilin).  It has taught over 5,000 students during this time, of which 3,000 have passed HSK-YCT official exams. Nearly 80,000 people have participated in its 300 cultural, social and festive events during the last 10 years. ICUV is considered a “Confucius Institute Model” by the headquarters of Hanban. It has received numerous awards from which the Distinción al Mérito Cultural 9 d’Octubre de la Generalitat Valenciana stands out. It is also considered one of the 20 best Confucius Institutes of the year among the existing 525 in the World.   Additionally, ICUV edits since its creation in 2010 the bilingual Spanish-Chinese cultural magazine of Confucius Institute. It is also responsible of the Reading Society (confuciomag.com). It is an initiative that has more than 35.000 followers in social media.