11 February 2021
By Mary Bermingham
mary@TheCork.ie
Cork City Council is celebrating Cork’s strong links with China and her sister city Shanghai and Partner Cities Shenzhen, Hangzhou and Wuxi.
This year, the Chinese New Year will fall on Friday, 12 February.
The first of the online celebratory events is the beautiful 1,000 Light & An Tai Sui Dharma Rites ceremony on Saturday 13th of February. A Virtual Wall of candles will be made using videos submitted by the people of Cork to ‘1000 candles’ Facebook page. A Virtual Showcase of Cork’s Musical Talent is lined up to bring a sense of Community Spirit to the evening alongside An Tai Sui Dharma Rite and a Buddha Relic Blessing. To sign up for the online celebrations visit: www.corkchinesenewyear.com
Cork City Council has proudly supported UCC’s Confucius Institute’s 2021 Online Chinese Lunar New Year Gala, which took place via YouTube on 7 February. This year’s dynamic programme of celebrations included Chinese traditional singing and dancing, musical instrument performances, Tai Chi martial arts, traditional games, and was delivered by teachers of UCC, UCC Confucius’s Institute and Shanghai University.
Lord Mayor of Cork, Cllr. Joe Kavanagh said: “As a Sister-City to Shanghai since 2005 and as a Partner City to Wuxi, Hangzhou and Shenzen, Cork City has fostered very strong relationships with our friends in China, in 2020 we saw these ties strengthen more so as we battled against Covid 19. Significant amounts of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), including over 100,00 face masks and 5 life-saving ventilators were generously donated by our partner cities to Cork City. I would like to wish you all a Very Happy Chinese New Year – may the year of the OX bring health, happiness and prosperity to us all.”
Lord Mayor Cllr Joe Kavanagh
