Journalists celebrate Chinese New Year in main media center of Beijing 2022

(ECNS)--On the Chinese New Year's Eve, journalists attending the 2022 Winter Olympics gathered at the Main Media Center experienced the traditional customs of the festival by writing Spring Festival couplets, folding paper, and cutting paper to make decorative patterns. 

"I was very excited and very humbled to be able to get involved. I’ve never experienced a Chinese New Year like this. Very special, indeed. I think (it is a) once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. So I’m very grateful to be here. And I wish everybody a very happy, healthy new year," said Whitt Braid from Getty Images. 

As the Year of the Tiger is approaching, the center offered journalists handmade red envelopes patterned after tigers. These journalists were also welcomed to fold papers into tiger-shaped red envelopes with the help of volunteers and to know more about the Chinese zodiac.

Li Chenyao is a volunteer at the Main Media Center for the Beijing Winter Olympic Games. “They are interested in this process because the paper-made tiger is cute, and it’s quite fitting to make one in the Year of the Tiger,” said Li.

Festooned with red lanterns and paper cuttings – typical Chinese New Year decorations – an interview room in the center was filled with joy. With paper-cutting and other performances alike, journalists had a more immersed experience of the traditions of Chinese New Year.