Year of the Snake. Padua celebrates the Chinese New Year 2025

29.01.2025

The city of Padua offers the opportunity to learn about and celebrate the Lunar New Year, known in the West as the Chinese New Year. Also called the Spring Festival, it is the most important holiday in Chinese tradition: 2025 is the Year of the Snake, a sign that symbolizes wisdom, shrewdness, intuition, and critical thinking, as well as the ability for renewal and transformation.

For the Chinese New Year 2025, the Confucius Institute at the University of Padua is organizing a range of free-entry events, with the sponsorship of the University of Padua and the Municipality of Padua, and the support of Guangzhou University.

The event kicks off on Sunday, February 2 at 3 PM in front of Palazzo Moroni with the traditional Dragon Dance through the streets of the city center. The parade concludes at Piazza delle Erbe where attendees can enjoy acrobatic performances by students from the ASD Weisong martial arts school in Pordenone led by Master Liu Yuwei, as well as traditional Chinese dances and songs.

In the evening, at the Auditorium of the San Gaetano Cultural Center, the show "Welcome to the Year of the Snake: Between Tradition and Modernity" will take place, featuring martial arts, modern dance, traditional Chinese songs, and an engaging lottery. Reservations are required to attend this performance.

Additionally, from February 6 to 27, the "Padua Chinese Film Festival" returns with four evenings of Chinese film screenings (February 6 / 13 / 19 / 27). The screenings will be held at Cinema Lux (Viale Felice Cavallotti 9, Padua) at 9 PM; entry is free without reservation until seats are full. The films scheduled are: "Fallen Angels" by Wong Kar-wai, "Full River Red" by Zhang Yimou, "Song of Silence" by Chen Zhuo, and "Farewell My Concubine" by Chen Kaige.