By H.E. MA Jianchun, Ambassador of the
People’s Republic of China to The Gambia
February 12, 2021 is the Chinese Lunar New Year’s Day, also known as the Spring Festival. It’s the most significant festival for the Chinese people, which is as important as Tobaski for the Muslims and Christmas for the Christians.
According to Chinese ancient tales, the Spring Festival started with a mythical beast called the Nian, which means “year” in Chinese. It is said that in ancient times, the Nian would attack villages and prey on people every midnight at the end of the year.
Through hard exploration, people found out that Nian was afraid of three things: red color, fire and explosion. From then on, to drive off the Nian, people have kept the tradition of sticking red Spring Festival couplets, keeping lights on all night and setting off firecrackers on every New Year’s Eve. These three activities have gradually become festival customs, and the Spring Festival has thus become one of the most celebrated days of the Chinese nation.
The Spring Festival is a festival of reunion. Where there are Chinese people, there are celebrations among families and friends at the Spring Festival. In addition to the three customs mentioned above, Chinese people also make dumplings, give red packets to children, perform dragon and lion dances and etc. The key event of Spring Festival falls on the dinner of New Year’s Eve , or “reunion dinner”.
Big families of several generations would sit around a round table enjoying traditional Chinese food together. People are longing for going back home before the New Year’s Eve to attend the dinner.
This leads to the great national migration, or Chunyun in Chinese. During this period, billion trips will be made by road, rail, air and water within 40 days. But this year will see an unique Spring Festival for the whole Chinese nation because of the prevention of COVID-19 pandemic. To avoid cross infection, many people will choose to celebrate this coming Spring Festival locally instead of taking long trips back home as a temporary separation will bring a lasting reunion.
For overseas Chinese, celebrating the Spring Festival is also one of the most important and happiest events in the whole year. As China integrates more and more into the rest of the world and globalization deepens, the Spring Festival is gradually becoming a shared festival globally.
Last year, in celebration of Chinese New Year, we organized a gala by inviting a group of artists from China to perform traditional Chinese music and dances in the Gambia. The splendid performance was most appreciated by the Gambian friends and Chinese compatriots.
This year, while challenges of COVID-19 and international travel restrictions made it impossible to re-arrange such a gala, we introduced popular Chinese documentary movies and animation series to The Gambia. These programs have started broadcasting on GRTS these days.
2020 was a year of fighting and achieving for the Chinese people. As Chinese President H.E. Xi Jinping quoted in his new year address last month, “Only in hard times can courage and perseverance be manifested. Only after polishing can a piece of jade be finer.” We overcame the impact of the pandemic and made great achievements in economic and social development. China has become the first major economy to resume growth since the pandemic.
China’s GDP has exceeded 100 trillion RMB, and its per capita GDP has exceeded 10,000 USD. Through 8 years, under the current standard, China has eradicated extreme poverty for 100 million affected, and all the 832 poor counties have shaken off poverty.
2020 also witnessed vibrant bilateral cooperation between China and The Gambia. The China-aid Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara International Conference Center was completed and officially handed over to the Gambia, and would accommodate the upcoming OIC Summit as the main venue.
The highly-anticipated URR road and bridge projects have been completed with more than 80%. To fight the COVID-19, China donated 9 batches of anti-pandemic materials, sent leading Chinese medical experts to the Gambia to consolidate Gambia’s achievement in curbing the spread of COVID-19 and assist in strengthening the Gambian public health security system. In many more areas, such as agriculture, education and people-to-people exchanges, our bilateral cooperation has yielded a lot more fruit and brought real benefits to the Gambian people.
2021 will be a year of historic importance in China’s national rejuvenation. This year will mark the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China. This year is also the inaugural year of China’s 14th Five-Year Plan, which is a comprehensive agenda for high quality economic and social development. China will embark on a new journey toward completing the building of a modern socialist country and realizing its Second Centenary Goal.
2021 also marks the 5th anniversary of the resumption of China-Gambia diplomatic relations. At the fourth quarter of the year, China and Africa will hold new FOCAC meetings in Senegal. China will work together with Africa to build solidarity, break new ground for cooperation, and deliver new benefits to our peoples. A new FOCAC will bring new opportunities for the development of China-Gambia bilateral relations, and help The Gambia achieve its national development goal.
According to the Chinese zodiac, 2021 is a Year of the Ox. In Chinese culture, the zodiac ox signifies diligence at work, resilience against adversity and great strength in face of challenges. Through an extraordinary 2020, we ushered in a new and hopeful 2021. As we believe that after the storm the sun will shine again, there will be brighter prospects unfolding before us.
In the year 2021, the pandemic will hopefully be controlled more effectively and the world will witness economic recovery and resumption of normal life. I sincerely wish the Gambian people peace and prosperity and hope that the China-Gambia relations will go from strength to strength.
Happy Chinese New Year.