Israel-China Relations: Students, lecturers celebrate Chinese New Year at UIBE-ISRAEL

                                                           （来源：CGTN 2022年2月4日)

Students and professors have welcomed the Year of The Tiger at the campus of China's University of International Business and Economics in Israel. They talked about Chinese traditions and culture, and took part in new year activities. Nick Kolyohin reports.

This is a unique event for Israel, both Chinese and Israelis jointly celebrating the Lunar New Year. Israelis usually mark the beginning of the New Year on the last night of December, with the Jewish community celebrating the New Year holiday during an event known as Rosh HaShanah, taking place during the last week of September.

NETANEL VAKNIN Vice President for Operations and General Manager, UIBE-ISRAEL "We celebrate here tonight the Chinese New Year. We merged two celebrations together, the ending of the first semester of the first Chinese University in Israel, UIBE Israel, and the year of the tiger."

Israel has a relatively small population of Chinese people; most of them work in the construction industry, helping Israel develop its local infrastructure.

The event was dedicated to Chinese culture and traditions. Students and their teachers gathered to listen about the history of China and afterwards practiced the ancient Chinese martial art of Qigong as well as getting together to play the oldest board game in the world, known as Weiqi, originating in China 2,500 years ago.

GONG JIONG Vice President for Research, UIBE-ISRAEL "We are here to celebrate China's Lunar New Year. We wish people here in Israel and also back home in China, a great New Year. We would also like to wish success for Israeli and Chinese athletes at the Winter Olympics."

NICK KOLYOHIN Petah Tikva, Israel "It seems like China and Israel are becoming closer and closer in recent years. And one of the signs of this great friendship between both cultures is the joint celebration of the Chinese New Year here behind me in the Israeli campus of the International Chinese University UIBE."

Israel and China are celebrating 30 years of diplomatic relations between two countries. Over the years China became one of Israel's leading partners in trade and both countries strive to increase their cooperation and collaboration in many sectors such as economy, academia, tourism, technology, and innovation.

The Israeli campus of UIBE University was established just about half a year ago with aims to grow rapidly and become a focal point for partnership between Israelis and Chinese. Nick Kolyohin, CGTN, Petah Tikva, Israel.

附：原文链接 https://news.cgtn.com/news/2022-02-04/VHJhbnNjcmlwdDYyNjkz/index.html