In the San Domenico Maggiore monumental complex, on Saturday, February 10th at 10, the Confucius Institute of “L'Orientale” opens the celebrations of the new Chinese year. The celebrations of 2024 will begin on the first day of the Year of the Dragon, a symbol of good omen associated with the concept of yang that represents good and water.
The Dragon is the most prestigious and coveted among the signs of the Chinese zodiac: it was also a symbol of the emperor.
Performances of singing, dancing, traditional music, martial arts by the International Wu Xing Kung Fu Academy and numerous activities that bring closer to traditional Chinese culture, such as calligraphy, painting, paper cutouts, and the tea ceremony are expected. «The night of the new moon - says Valeria Varriano, director of the Confucius Institute of Naples - after the winter solstice is one of the darkest and has long scared men. Many traditional festivals were born precisely to drive away those monsters that darkness and cold evoked. The New Year's festival or Spring Festival, which opens the new year in China but also in much of East Asia, is one of these. Tourists and citizens will be welcomed by music, dances and workshop activities where, adults and children, can learn small and large arts such as the making of Chinese knots. The hope is that all together, listening to the songs of young Italian and Chinese students, enjoying the dragon dance and trying out unfamiliar arts, we can illuminate the Year of the Dragon that is about to begin».
The event, organized in collaboration with the Municipality of Naples, will open with the greetings of the rector Roberto Tottoli, with Varriano and the co-director of the Confucius Institute of Naples, Cheng Hongjin.