Cardiff Confucius Institute Celebrates Spring Festival 2025: Year of the Snake
4 March 2025
Cardiff Confucius Institute brought the joy of the Spring Festival to the city, celebrating the Year of the Snake with a series of vibrant events across Cardiff. These cultural celebrations, organised for Cardiff’s residents and schools in Wales, aimed to bring together families, students, and diverse communities to experience the traditions of Chinese New Year.
Community Events
The festivities began on 30 January at Cardiff University, where staff and students enjoyed an immersive cultural experience. The event featured traditional Chinese music, calligraphy and lantern making workshops plus attendees had the opportunity to discover the significance of the Year of the Snake in Chinese culture and to experience a Chinese tea ceremony.
On Saturday 1 February, Cardiff Central Library hosted a special event for families, offering a day of storytelling, craft activities, and interactive performances. Around 1,000 visitors including children and parents took part in lantern-making, paper-cutting and calligraphy workshops and enjoyed tasters in Chinese painting, Chinese Chess, trying on traditional costumes and Chinese Tea. Entertainment was also on offer in the form of traditional music and dance performances, the appearance of the Wealthy God and a special Chinese Lion dance.
The celebrations continued at the Red Dragon Centre in Cardiff Bay on Sunday 2 February, where families were treated to a lively showcase of Chinese culture. Once again, a traditional lion dance thrilled the crowds, while visitors could try their hand at brush painting and calligraphy. Other activities included a Chopsticks game, paper cutting and lantern making. Cardiff Confucius Institute staff also delivered mesmerising dance and music performances with traditional costumes and the beautiful sound of the guzheng instrument. Over 3,300 visitors attended to the centre with the event bringing together people of all backgrounds to enjoy the rich heritage of the Spring Festival.
Rounding off the celebrations, the Confucius Institute partnered with Women Connect First on Friday 7 February to host a special event for Black, Asian, and ethnic minority women and their families. This gathering provided a welcoming space for women to explore Chinese traditions through hands-on craft workshops, cultural storytelling, and tradition Baduan Jin exercise, fostering cultural exchange and community connection.
School Events
“The calligraphy session on numbers was brilliant. The pupils really loved this and even wanted to write out the numbers in mandarin as part of their maths lesson!” – Oliver John, Griffithstown Primary School (China Day)
The Spring Festival celebrations brought Chinese culture not only to the community, but to hundreds of pupils in Wales through a mix of in-person and online events. Around 500 students participated in immersive China Days held for schools, including a collaborative event with Cardiff University’s Primary School Programme.
“The variety of activities and the information that was shared [at the online Chinese New Year Festival] was really interesting and at a good level for the children to understand” – Primary school teacher
Cardiff Confucius Institute’s Online Chinese New Year Festival extended the reach even further, engaging 28 primary schools and home educators with over 1,500 pupils joining live. An additional 46 schools (potentially an additional 2000-2500 students) also expressed interest in using the recorded sessions, ensuring a lasting impact on cultural learning across a wide young audience in Wales.
Access the recordings of the online festival, which includes an introduction to the Spring Festival, making traditional door decorations and Chinese story-telling.
Looking for something for secondary schools? Check out our Life in China videos, exclusively made by Cardiff Confucius Institute tutors in 2024 and including a peep inside a Chinese teahouse, traditional painting, making food, and youth culture in China.
Cardiff Confucius Institute’s celebrations have once again demonstrated the city’s vibrant multicultural spirit, making the Year of the Snake a memorable occasion for all who took part.
Professor, Guoxiang Xia, Academic Director of the Cardiff Confucius Institute, highlighted the importance of these celebrations in bringing communities together. “The Spring Festival is a time for unity, joy, and cultural appreciation. We are delighted to share these traditions with the people of Cardiff and create opportunities for meaningful cross-cultural engagement.”