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Remarks by Ambassador Zhang Jun at the Spring Festival Celebration for the Year of the Rabbit

2023-01-18 10:00

Your Excellencies,

Distinguished Guests,

Dear Colleagues,

Ladies and Gentlemen, Friends,

In just three days, we will say hello to the new Year of the Rabbit. The Spring Festival is the most important traditional festival in China. On this joyful occasion, we are delighted to have all dear friends, both old and new, at the Chinese Mission to celebrate the New Year together.

The Spring Festival is a time for family reunion. No matter where they are, Chinese people would find a way home, where they can unload all burdens of the year, have a nice family dinner on the New Year’s eve, and together stay up till midnight to welcome the New Year.

The Spring Festival is a day to bid farewell to the past and embrace the new. People replace the old spring couplets on the door with the new ones. Family members and friends exchange blessings and best wishes, and usher in the New Year with various celebrations.

The Spring Festival is an epitome of traditional Chinese culture. We honor our ancestors, cut paper decorations, paste spring couplets, hang lanterns, set fireworks, and watch lion dance and dragon dance. Behind all these customs are the five thousand years of Chinese culture and philosophy.

The Spring Festival is also a bond between Chinese people. Wherever we come from, wherever we are, we fellow Chinese have endless topics and fond memories to share with each other. This is in our genes. This is what we always hold dear: our home and our country.

The Spring Festival originates from China, but it also belongs to the world. Today, we are honored to have friends of the UN family to celebrate the Year of the Rabbit with us together. My colleagues have made a lot preparation. I believe the moment you entered the Mission, you would feel that the Spring Festival is in the air.

We’ve prepared tea art demonstration, calligraphy writing, paper-cutting and other interactive programs.

We’ve also prepared delicious jiaozi and tangyuan, and we encourage you to try making them yourselves.

More importantly, we’ve prepared our most sincere best wishes to you. Here, on behalf of my colleagues at the Chinese Mission, I wish you all a healthy, peaceful, joyful, and fulfilling new Year of the Rabbit!

Also, please allow me to send my best wishes in Chinese to my country and people: 值此兔年新春来临之际,我代表常驻联合国代表团给全国人民拜年!祝福伟大祖国繁荣昌盛、国泰民安!祝福全国人民平安幸福,兔年吉祥!

Dear Friends,

With the Year of the Rabbit around the corner, we will soon say goodbye to the Year of the Tiger. The past year has been extraordinary.

In the past year, despite all the difficulties, China successfully held the Beijing Winter Olympics and Paralympics, presenting to the world a streamlined, safe and splendid international gathering.

In the past year, in response to the pandemic, China adopted a people-centered and science-based approach, and took effective and optimized measures to protect people’s life and heath, and stabilize the economy. We have overcome many challenges. and vigorously scored new achievements in economic and social development, technological advancement, environmental protection, and many other fields, thus delivering a harmonious and happy life to our people.

In the past year, China continued to shoulder its responsibility for world peace and development. We have been working closely with the international community to contribute China’s strength in addressing global challenges.

Also in the past year, the Communist Party of China successfully held its 20th National Congress. This event has ushered in a new journey for Chinese modernization, and put China’s development on a new starting point.

Look forward, in the new year, we hope the rabbit, which is a symbol of luckiness, will bring good fortune to the world. We wish to see more peace and fewer conflicts, more cooperation and fewer confrontations, more trust and fewer suspicions, and more interactions and fewer divisions.

Of course, good wishes do not come true by themselves. It requires the unremitting efforts from every one of us, like a diligent rabbit running determinedly toward the goal.

As President Xi Jinping said, strength comes from unity. In today’s world where we all share weal and woe, we must make joint efforts to address common challenges and turn our dreams into reality. The United Nations carries the common expectations of all peoples, and shoulders important responsibilities. We must stay committed to unity and cooperation, to true multilateralism, and to the central role of the UN in international affairs, so as to achieve common security, common development and a shared future.

China is a firm supporter of the UN, and will continue its role as a responsible major country. On its new journey ahead, China’s new development and new achievements will provide the world with new opportunities and new hopes. Working together, we will create a better future for all.

Now I wish to propose a toast:

To the new Year of the Rabbit,

To our friendship, and

To a brighter future!

Cheers!

Thank you.


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