The launch ceremony of the 2023 “Happy Chinese New Year” celebrations kicked off with a globally live-streamed concert at the Henan Art Center in Zhengzhou on Jan.14, 2023. Sponsored by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of People’s Republic of China, the event was co-hosted by the China International Culture Exchange Center and the Culture and Tourism Department of Henan Province.

Hu Heping, minister of culture and tourism, and Wang Kai, governor of Henan province, attended and addressed the event. “Over the past 22 years, the ‘Happy Chinese New Year’ event has gradually become a cultural carnival for global celebration and sharing, a bridge to help people connect and enhance exchanges, and a window for Chinese culture to go global and for people around the world to understand China,” said the minister in his speech, declaring the launch of the 2023 global “Happy Chinese New Year” festivities to usher in the Year of the Rabbit.”We look forward to taking the event as an opportunity to further deepen and expand cultural and tourism exchanges and cooperation between China and foreign countries, and to build a broad platform for cultural exchanges and mutual learning,” Hu added.

Wang Kai said that Henan province has been committed to building the brand of “Amazing Henan – Where China Began” by leveraging its rich historical and cultural resources and implementing the strategy of integrating culture and tourism industries. Holding the launch ceremony of the 2023 “Happy Chinese New Year” global celebrations affords the central province a prime opportunity to better build tourism with culture and highlight culture with tourism in return.

Themed on Harmony and Shared Future, the concert features a star-studded lineup including conductor Chen Xieyang, pipa player Zhao Cong, soprano Wu Bixia and pianist Lang Lang, who serves as this year’s “Happy Chinese New Year” culture ambassador, as well as China National Traditional Orchestra and Suzhou Symphony Orchestra.

The concert opened with The Spring Festival Overture, which then wove the concert’s four chapters – Heaven, Earth, Human, and Harmony, together like a thread. At the concert, Chinese musicians and foreign musicians joined hands to create a musical feast highlighting the harmonious fusion of tradition and modernity, East and West, and tangible and intangible.