On 6 February, the grand China-Sweden Middle School Students' Spring Festival Celebration, "Poetry of Flowers", was held in the China Cultural Centre in Stockholm. The wonderful performances of the Chinese and Swedish middle school students won warm applause and laughter from the audience. Ambassador Gui Congyou and Education Counsellor Dou Chunxiang attended the event and celebrated the Chinese Spring Festival with over 100 middle school students and teachers from the Shijiazhuang Foreign Language School of China, the Stockholm International Montessori School, the Falkenbergs Gymnasieskola, and the Stockholm International School. Representatives of the local Chinese community also participated.
Ambassador Gui extended sincere greetings and wishes to students from both China and Sweden. He said that the students are in their prime, just like the thriving China-Sweden educational exchanges and cooperation. In recent years, the Confucius Classroom jointly established by the Shijiazhuang Foreign Language School and the Falkenbergs Gymnasieskola is becoming increasingly successful, and students from both sides visit each other annually and have formed close friendships. The Stockholm International Montessori School, where Chinese is a compulsory course throughout preschool to junior middle school stage, regards China as its main partner in international cooperation and organizes student exchange visits to Beijing every year. The Stockholm International School values international cooperation and actively participates in international exchanges of middle school students. Ambassador Gui expressed the hope that the Spring Festival celebration will help establish a bridge of exchanges and cooperation between Chinese and Swedish middle schools, improve mutual understanding and friendship between students from both sides, and foster more friendly messengers between China and Sweden.
The Chinese and Swedish students performed amazing shows, such as dances with diverse ethnic characteristics, instrumental performance, traditional opera and calligraphy, displaying the glorious traditional Chinese culture. The atmosphere of the celebration was brought to a climax by a Chinese chorus sung by all the students.
Ambassador Gui talked with the principals and teachers of these four schools. They agreed to further promote exchanges and cooperation for the purpose of further improving teaching quality and level in both countries.