Chinese New Year - also known as Lunar New Year or Spring Festival - is the most important festival in China and a major event in many other East Asian countries. Traditionally an opportunity to honour deities and ancestors, it has more recently become a time to feast and visit family members, as well as observe ancient customs such as hoping for good fortune, a successful harvest, and good health to all.  

This Lunar New Year is the year of the Wood Dragon, beginning 10 February 2024, and going on for two weeks. The Dragon symbolizes power, nobility, honour, luck, and success in traditional Chinese culture, while wood dragons are full of energy and dreams of changing the world.

To celebrate, our Year 8 Mandarin class took part in a Chinese Fan Dance workshop, which they showcased at a special Chinese New Year assembly. Students also sang a Chinese New Year song, read a Tang poem called Chun Xiao (‘spring dawn’) and performed a tongue twister, all thoroughly enjoying themselves! 

I wish everyone a Happy Chinese New Year in 2024! 

“The dance was very pretty and was fun to learn - we used flowy fans which looked beautiful when we waved them around. A professional fan dancer came to teach us the dance in a workshop which was a great experience!” 

- Joanna, Year 8   

“We have been practising our Chinese New Year song, poem, and tongue twister every lesson. We chose what Chinese outfits we wanted to wear for the assembly. It was really fun, and we all had a great time getting to learn more about Chinese culture.” 

- Ottoline, Year 8