The Confucius Classroom at The Maxim Gorky Secondary School in Stara Zagora, Which Is Associated to The Confucius Institute in Sofia, Has Held Its Chinese New Year's Celebration Under The Name of Flying Like A Dragon, Leaping Like A Tiger

On 23rd February 2024, the Confucius Classroom of the Maxim Gorky Secondary School, associated to the Confucius Institute in Sofia, has conducted its 2024 Chinese and Bulgarian Lunar New Year Celebration under the slogan Flying Like A Dragon, Leaping Like A Tiger at the Cultural Centre of the Stara Zagora municipality building. Mr. Yang Tian - the head of the educational affairs at the Embassy of the People's Republic of China in Bulgaria, Prof. Liu Xiuming – the Chinese director of the Confucius Institute in Sofia, civil officials from the Stara Zagora city municipality, Mrs. Mariana Pencheva - the headmistress of the Maxim Gorky Secondary School, many teachers, students, parents and representatives of the local community have attended the event. 

The school headmaster Mrs. Mariana Pencheva, Mr. Yang Tian and Professor Liu Xiuming have delivered their speeches at the opening ceremony. Mrs. Mariana Pencheva expressed her gratitude to the Confucius Institute in Sofia for their great support and their assistance to the Confucius Classroom at the Maxim Gorky Secondary School in terms of providing Chinese teachers,  in the process of Chinese language teaching, and in the cultural exchange and student exchange visits. She has expressed her hopes that the school will continue to maintain good cooperation with the Confucius Institute in Sofia. Professor Liu Xiuming - the Chinese director of the Confucius Institute in Sofia, has acknowledged that the Confucius Institute in Sofia and the Maxim Gorky Secondary School in Stara Zagora have always respected each other, have understood each other well, have been beneficial to each other, have always cooperated in a friendly way, and that both institutions have jointly committed themselves to the cause of the Chinese language education in the region. Professor Liu Xiuming empahasized on the 10 year-long history of language teaching and cultural exchange activities at the Maxim Gorky Secondary School which have blazed a trail and have made commendable achievements. He invited more students to choose to learn Chinese language and culture to gain a deeper understanding of China and to contribute to the further strengthening of the humanistic exchanges and the cooperation between China and Bulgaria.

The event consisted of two parts: the cultural experience and the Spring Festival celebration. Teachers and students from the Confucius classroom have carefully organised numerous cultural activity displays. These included traditional Chinese calligraphy, tea ceremony, face masks painting and food experience, as well as Chinese character games and cultural quizzes designed in conjunction to language and culture teaching, which activities have attracted a large number of enthusiastic participants from the audience.

The celebration featured an exciting programme of songs and dances with ingenious designs, incorporating classic elements of Chinese culture such as poetry, opera and qipao dresses. The dragon dance performance has marked the start of the celebration, with the fire dragon circling and dancing, symbolising the year of the dragon in China, which is expected to be a flying-like-a-dragon, leaping-like-a-tiger year of prosperous activiies and renewal. The dance The Night of The Lantern Festival inspired by the Chinese folk tales, has rendered the cheerful and the lively atmosphere of the Chinese New Year festival. The dance Mountain Ghosts has been taken from The Nine Songs, in which the dancers carried lamps and wore white clothes as if they had been in the world of the mountain gods, demonstrating the romantic feelings and magnificent imagination of the Chu people. The performers of the song Chi Ling were dressed in Beijing opera costumes, and their melodious singing and delicate performances were mesmerising. The dancers of Fantasy were dressed in Chinese qipao dresses and danced with oil-paper umbrellas demonstrating the classical charm of the rhythm and sound. The modern dance Myself (One black and one white, one tells and one listens) displayed a dialogue with oneself and a dialogue between the past and the future. The whole performance embodied the combination of traditional culture and modern aesthetics and was well received by the audience.

In order to recognise their excellence and to stimulate students' enthusiasm for learning, the event included an award presentation session for handing out the certificates and the prizes to students who had excellent results in Chinese and have passed their HSK tests.

This activity has not only been a presentation of the excellent teaching results of Confucius Classroom in the Maxim Gorky Secondary School, but has also been a useful attempt of humanistic exchanges between China and Bulgaria which has inspired the local people's enthusiasm for the Chinese language and culture and has enhanced the influence of the Confucius classroom in the local community.

Confucious Institute in Sofia

Text: Pan Xixi

Photos：Pan Xixi

Editors: Aksinia Koleva, Chen Chen, Liu Xiuming

English translation: Maya Kostadinova

Figure 1. Mrs. Mariana Pencheva - the school headmistress with some of the guests.

Figure 2. Speech by Mrs. Mariana Pencheva - the headmistress of the Maxim Gorky Secondary School.

Figure 3. Speech by Mr. Yang Tian - the head of the educational affairs in the Embassy of People’s Republic of China in Bulgaria.

Figure 4. Professor Liu Xiuming - the Chinese Director of the Confucius Institute in Sofia delivering a speech.

Figure 5. Teachers introducing Chinese calligraphy to local people.

Figure 6. The Dragon Dance.

Figure 7. The Night of The Lantern Festival dance.

Figure 8. The Mountain Ghost dance.

Figure 9. The Chi Ling song.

Figure 10. The umbrella dance Fantasy.

Figure 11. The modern dance Myself.

Figure 12. Awarding the outstanding students with prizes.

Figure 13. A group photo of the performers.