On Tuesday 8 February 2022, the China-Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce (ChinaLux), together with the Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce, the Confucius Institute at the University of Luxembourg and the China Cultural Centre in Luxembourg, held, with the support of Euro-Asie, its Chinese New Year celebration in an online format which attracted almost one hundred participants.

Jacques BORTUZZO, Vice President of ChinaLux, welcomed everyone and moderated the event which included a number of pre-recorded video presentations covering business, culture, education and travel/tourism.

Franz Fayot, Luxembourg's Minister of the Economy, spoke in English and referred to entering the Year of the Tiger representing bravery, courage and confidence, qualities which he said that we need at the current time, and referred to Luxembourg and China celebrating 50 years of diplomatic ties between the two countries. He mentioned Eugene Ruppert from Luxembourg travelling to Wuhan to create the first blast furnace in China at the end of the 19th century. Paul Wurth also became involved in the 20th century; in 1979, Grand Duke Jean travelled to China and the Bank of China set up a branch in the Grand Duchy. Later, a Luxembourg Trade and Investment office was set up in China, with Luxembourg participating in the World Expo in Shanghai. He also referred to Chinese start-ups in Luxembourg, as well as green finance, logistics and more. He mentioned that Cargolux currently has around 60 flights to China each week. He concluded by that the financial and diplomatic relations between the two countries are solid, and also referred to educational, sports and cultural links between the two countries.

Yang Xiaorong, the Chinese Ambassador to Luxembourg, spoke both in Chinese and French and spoke about the relations between the two countries.

Luc Frieden, Chairman of the Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce and previously Luxembourg's Minister of Finance, gave a video greeting and welcomed the lunar new year. He referred to living in complex and challenging times and the geo-political climate. GDP is expected to drop this year, but not as far as the Eurozone average. He called to expand our exports and imports and mentioned Cargolux and the Chinese banks present here in the Grand Duchy, referencing finance, space, logistics and other sectors. He called for dialogue for peace and economic prosperity.

Zhujun Xie, President of ChinaLux, presented a welcome address and welcomed everyone to the Chinese New Year celebration. She hopes that this year we can beat the virus and return to a normal life. She referred to changes to business behaviour from the COVID crisis and expressed delight in returning to physical events; she acknowledged that keeping events interesting has been difficult. She concluded by stating that she is looking forward to organising a series of activities with partners, both business (ESG, space, insurance) and cultural, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two countries.

Zhang Jing, Director of the China Cultural Centre in Luxembourg, gave a video greeting, focussing on cultural aspects and the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two countries. He announced three programmes being launched this year and showed three cultural video clips: (a) an excerpt from the ballet Swan Lake by Tchaikovsky, (b) face-changing dance (Sichuan Opera Arts) and (c) underwater dance (shown below).

Prof. Dr. Stéphane Pallage, Rector of the University of Luxembourg, presented a short welcome address on education and opened by stating that he hopes that 2022 will become a non-pandemic year. He mentioned the Confucious Institute at the university and its library which comprises 5,000+ works and is soon to include film too.

Jauffrey Bareille, Luxembourg Director, Confucius Institute at the University of Luxembourg, gave a video greeting and presented one of 20 short videos produced by the institute in collaboration with the university's media centre, on learning the Chinese language, announcing that one episode would be released every two weeks from today: the episode shown dealt with everyday greetings.

Yong Zhang, Director of Euro-Asie, led a video greeting which comprised a tourism video of Chinese landscapes and landmarks, also featuring some cultural clips and people in traditional costume. Lex Delles, Luxembourg's Minister of Tourism, and Mars de Bartholomeo, vice-president of the Luxembourg parliament, both also delivered short greetings online.

The event concluded, not with a traditional dragon dance, but with a rendition of "Oh my darling, Clementine" in Chinese.