/Silk Road News Network/

China’s Spring Festival and the Year of the Horse: Cultural Symbols and Civilizational Bridges

 *Abdelkader KHELIL 

This year in mid-February, China pauses to welcome the Spring Festival, marking the beginning of the Lunar New Year. Yet this celebration is far more than a cultural ritual or a festive tradition. It is a mirror reflecting how Chinese society understands continuity, renewal, and its relationship with both history and the future.

At its heart, the Spring Festival is about family and reconnection. The massive annual movement of people returning to their hometowns—

often described as the largest human migration in the world—underscores the enduring importance of family unity and social cohesion. These values are not uniquely Chinese. Across the Arab world, family remains the cornerstone of social life, making the Spring Festival an immediately relatable moment of shared human experience.

The festival’s rituals—red lanterns, reunion dinners, dragon and lion dances, and the exchange of red envelopes—are often seen as colorful folklore. In reality, they serve a deeper purpose: reaffirming collective optimism and reinforcing social bonds. In a rapidly changing world, such traditions offer a sense of stability without rejecting modernity, illustrating how cultural continuity can coexist with innovation.

This year’s Lunar New Year carries added symbolism as it ushers in the Year of the Horse. In _الربيعChinese culture, the Horse represents energy, perseverance, independence, and forward movement. It is a symbol of action rather than hesitation, effort rather than stagnation. In this sense, the Year of the Horse resonates beyond cultural boundaries, reflecting a broader global desire for momentum, recovery, and purposeful progress.

For China–Arab relations, the Spring Festival has gradually taken on a wider meaning. Increasingly celebrated or acknowledged in Arab countries, it has become a form of soft diplomacy—a civilizational bridge that complements economic and strategic cooperation. Cultural understanding, after all, creates the trust and mutual respect that sustainable partnerships require.

The symbolism of the Horse is particularly relevant here. It aligns with the shared emphasis China and Arab countries place on development through hard work, long-term planning, and mutual benefit. The growing Sino-Arab partnership is not only about infrastructure, trade, or investment; it is also about aligning visions of progress rooted in dignity, stability, and cultural confidence.

Ultimately, the Spring Festival reminds us that international relations are shaped not only by interests and policies, but also by values and narratives. In celebrating renewal, family, and forward movement, the festival—and the Year of the Horse in particular—offers a timely message: meaningful cooperation between China and the Arab world rests as much on shared human principles as it does on strategic calculations.

*KHELIL Abdelkader: ditor-in-Chief of The Silk Road News Network