North-East Five University Spring Festival Gala | School of Modern Languages

To celebrate the Chinese New Year of Rabbit, on 10 February 2023, the North-East Five University Spring Festival Gala was successfully held at Sage Gateshead, one of the most remarkable landmarks of Newcastle. Co-hosted by the Confucius Institute at Newcastle University (CI) and the Chinese Students and Scholars Association of the five universities, the Newcastle University Chinese Students and Scholars Association (CSSA) is in charge of the Spring Festival Gala，the event attracted more than 1500 people, including Chinese international students/scholars and many local citizens.

Since its inception in 2008, the Spring Festival Gala has continued to be one of the largest Chinese New Year celebrations in the Northeast Community. After three years of a halt due to the Covid pandemic, the 2023 Gala returned with live bands, traditional Chinese instrument orchestras, the dance performances together with many new and exciting performances to showcase this year.

Many distinguished guests joined us, including Councillor Alison Smith, Mayor of Sunderland; Councillor Veronica Dunn, Deputy Lord Mayor and the Sheriff of Newcastle; Professor Nigel Harkness, Pro-Vice-Chancellor of Newcastle University; Andrea Wilczynski, the Head of the School of Modern Languages at Newcastle University; Dr. Andrew Law, the Foreign Director of the CI; Professor Ruojuan Zheng, the Chinese Director of the CI, as well as Dr. Sara Ganassin, the foreign Executive Director of the CI.

The 2023 Spring Festival Gala has been widely appreciated thanks to more than three months’ hardworking and dedication of our working team. CI at Newcastle University has been and will be devoted to bringing more wonderful Chinese cultural activities to the local community.