On February 17th 2013, NC State Confucius Institute held the 2013 Chinese New Year Reception at the Progress Energy Center in Downtown Raleigh. This is the highest-level celebration activity for Chinese New Year we organized once a year. For this year, this event is also the sixth anniversary of CI and the final event of the Spring Festival Events/ “Chinese Day” series of Activities.

From Jan 3rd to Feb 17th, Confucius Institute at NC State hosted a series of Spring Festival Events to promote Chinese Culture, including “Chinese Calligraphy Day” for NC State faculty and staff, “Chinese Culture Day” for North Carolina School of Science and Math, Enloe High School and Heritage High School, “Paper cutting of Spring” for the local residents, two Spring Festival Parties with CAFA and with CSSFA.

About ten thousand people in North Carolina participated in these activities and enjoyed the atmosphere of Chinese new year, and also learned some Chinese language and culture. This series of Spring Festival Events came to climax with the New Year Reception of CI.

The VIPs from the fields of politics, education and business in North Carolina came to celebrate Chinese New Year with CI Staff and offered their best wishes to the development of CI. 300 guests participated in the reception, including the North Carolina Republican Senator, Harris Blake, Democratic Congressman, Joe Sam Queen, the President of North Carolina University System, Tom Ross, superintendent of Education Board of the Orange County, Patrick Rhodes, the principle of Central Carolina Community College, Dr. Bud Merchant, the CEOs of the famous enterprises in Triangle Park, the leaders of the local Chinese associates, and the leaders of North Carolina State University and the dean of each college.

President Tom Ross is the key speaker of this reception. In his speech, he spoke highly of the strategic position of China in the development of education in North Carolina and praised the outstanding achievements of Confucius Institute at NC State. He also expressed his appreciation to the contribution of CI as the platform and link in the multi-level cooperation between North Carolina and China in various aspects and his expectation to deeper communication between North Carolina and China in language, culture, and academy with the promotion of CI.

After the reception, the visiting musicians from Chinese National Orchestra and the Raleigh Symphony offered the guests and other local audience a fantastic music show with a combination of Chinese and Western styles. The local people contacted the amazing traditional instruments of China, like pipa, erhu, suona, and shocked by the unique charm of traditional Chinese music. The prolonged applause once again proved the greatness of the Chinese music arts beyond borders.