Egypt shares with the Chinese people their celebration of the Spring Festival at the official and popular levels in a unique combination of civilization coexistence and human exchange, said Ahmed Sallam, an Egyptian expert in Chinese affairs.
CAIRO, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- The Spring Festival, or the Chinese Lunar New Year, is a great event that promotes cultural exchanges, Ahmed Sallam, an expert in Chinese affairs, has said.
Featuring family reunions, the festival is a remarkable traditional celebration embedded in the core of Chinese culture and civilization, Sallam, also a former media consultant at the Egyptian embassy in Beijing, told Xinhua in a recent interview.
He said various Spring Festival cultural practices, such as hanging red decorations and motifs on buildings and streets, wearing red clothes and setting off fireworks, are also observed in other parts of the world.
In a resolution by the UN General Assembly in December, the Lunar New Year, or Spring Festival, has been officially listed as a UN floating holiday in its calendar of conferences and meetings from 2024.
The UN resolution showcased the influence of the Chinese civilization, considering one-fifth of the world's population celebrates this festival, Sallam said.
He added that it embodies the international value of the Chinese culture and civilization as an indispensable part of the global cultural fabric and will help enhance interactions between diverse civilizations worldwide.
The Global Civilization Initiative, proposed by President Xi Jinping in March 2023, is a call for coexistence and cooperation among nations, he said, adding that he believes the initiative creates a golden opportunity to respect the diversity of civilizations around the world and celebrate equity, common interest, dialogue and tolerance while overcoming differences and conflicts.
He said that the initiative seeks to foster international communication and cooperation at humanitarian and cultural levels, enriching dialogue channels and enhancing affinity among different people worldwide.
Egypt shares with the Chinese people their celebration of the Spring Festival at the official and popular levels in a unique combination of civilization coexistence and human exchange, the expert said.■
