On the evening of January 19, 2025, the "Happy Chinese New Year·Chinese Culture Festival" grandly opened at the Cinnamon Life Hotel in Colombo. Ambassador Qi Zhenhong, Sri Lankan Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya, former President Maithripala Sirisena, former Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena, Minister of Industry and Entrepreneurship Development Sunil Handunneththi, Deputy Minister of Finance Ajith Abeysekera, Secretary to the Ministry of Culture Mr. A.M.P.M.B. Atapattu attended the event. Approximately thousand guests, including high-level officials of the Sri Lankan government, overseas Chinese, and Chinese enterprise representatives were present at the opening ceremony.
Ambassador Qi Zhenhong said that the Chinese New Year, or the Spring Festival, is the most important traditional festival for the Chinese people. It is a time for celebration, family reunions, and a period dedicated to reverence for nature, cherishing familial bonds, and pursuing harmony.. In recent years, the Chinese Spring Festival has become a window for the world to better understand Chinese culture and customs, and an important way to promote exchanges and mutual learning among different civilizations. China and Sri Lanka are good brothers and partners who help each other. President Desanayake successfully visited China this week and achieved fruitful results. The two Presidents reached important common understandings on deepening China-Sri Lanka strategic cooperative partnership and jointly building a China-Sri Lanka community with a shared future, making new strategic guidance for the development of China-Sri Lanka relations. China is willing to work with Sri Lanka to implement the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, deepen the strategic cooperative partnership, promote high-quality "the Belt and Road" cooperation, and jointly build a China-Sri Lanka community with a shared future, bringing more benefits to the two countries and their peoples.
Sri Lankan Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya conveyed New Year greetings from President Anura Kumara Dissanayake to the Chinese people. She said that Sri Lanka and China have shared a rich and vibrant history of friendship, rooted in centuries of cultural exchange, trade and mutual respect. The two nations are bound by a partnership that continues to grow stronger. The successful state visit of His Excellency the President of Sri Lanka to China, which concluded just two days ago marked an important milestone in this relationship. Both leaders reaffirmed their commitment to deepening the strategic cooperative partnership of sincere mutual assistance and enduring friendship. They also expressed their willingness to continue promoting the spirit of the historic Rubber-Rice Pact and to jointly build a China-Sri Lanka community with a shared future. Sri Lanka China cultural exchanges are an important part of bilateral relations and reflect the profound friendship between the two peoples. Sri Lanka will continue to support more cultural exchanges between two sides.
At the opening ceremony, artists from Henan Province presented a wonderful cultural performance, including the combination of strength and softness in "Shaolin Kung Fu Fist", the ingenious "Tang Palace Night Banquet", martial arts"Kung Fu Skills", "Shaolin Might" , Flute Solo:"Butterfly Lovers""Jasmine Flower", dance "National Charm", "Beauty" etc., showcasing rich and colorful traditional Chinese cultural elements, leading the audience to experience the unique charm and spiritual connotation of Chinese civilization up close, and presenting an audio-visual feast for the audience. The atmosphere at the party was lively, with continuous applause from the audience. After the performance, the audience was still unwilling to leave for a long time. At the same time, Chinese culture exhibitions and intangible cultural heritage interactive workshops such as Chinese tea art, folk sugar painting, Paper Cuttings calligraphy were held at the scene.
The "Happy Chinese New Year-Chinese Culture Festival" is co-hosted by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of China and the Chinese Embassy in Sri Lanka. It is jointly organized by Cinnamon Hotels & Resorts Group, CHEC Port City Colombo Ltd., Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television and Tourism of Zhengzhou, Sichuan Tourism University, and the China Cultural Center in Sri Lanka. Events like the Performance, "Chinese Food Festival", Chinese culture exhibitions and intangible cultural heritage interactive workshops and "Port City Chinese Cultural Night" planned from 20 to 23 January.
China Media Group, Xinhua News Agency, Phoenix Satellite TV and other Chinese media, as well as SLRC, Ada Derana, Daily News, Dinamina, Daily Mirror, Ceylon Today, Divaina, The Island, Virakesari, Sri Lanka Mirror and other nearly 20 Sri Lankan media have widely reported on the event.