Librarian Tan Huoy Chyng adds festive touches to the library. [Photo/en.xmu.edu.cn]
As the Year of the Horse draws near, faculty members and students at Xiamen University (XMU) are preparing to welcome the festival with traditions that span regions, classrooms, and communities.
At the Malaysia campus, librarian Tan Huoy Chyng is carefully arranging Spring Festival decorations. Red lanterns and festive couplets now brighten the library, part of what she describes as a deliberate effort to create a warmer, more welcoming space for study and exchange. In Malaysia, Spring Festival is not only one of the most important festivals for the overseas Chinese community but also an increasingly shared celebration in the country's multicultural society.
For Nan Baiyu, an undergraduate from Shaanxi province, the memories are of bustling holiday markets awash in red and filled with the aroma of Xingping chili peppers — sun-dried, sizzling in hot oil and tucked into steamed buns. "Chili-stuffed buns are the taste of home I grew up with," she said. Like many students, preparing holiday goods keeps her connected to tradition.
At the Cape Town Chinese New Year celebration in South Africa, Er Siying, an XMU volunteer in international Chinese language education, guided local residents and international visitors through pictographic Chinese character riddles, explaining how the characters were formed and how their shapes evolved. This Chinese New Year, far away from home and amid the lively festival, she shared the beauty of Chinese writing with the world.
