MORE than 300 Chinese living in Tanzania gathered in Dar es Salaam at the weekend to celebrate the upcoming spring festival which marks the first day of the lunar calendar.

The celebration was guided by the Chinese Embassy in Tanzania and organised by overseas Chinese, with the audience enjoying a gala featuring traditional Chinese music, dance and other performances.

Chinese Ambassador to Tanzania Chen Mingjian said the spring festival is the social practice of the Chinese people to celebrate the traditional New Year, which has been included on the list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation.

The spring festival falls on January 29 this year, marking the beginning of the Year of the Snake. It is an important part of traditional Chinese culture, carrying the common expectations of mankind for reunion, happiness, satisfaction, and wellbeing, Chen said.

"We look forward to working with everyone in the New Year to make the China-Tanzania friendship tree more deeply rooted and fruitful," she said.

"Watching all these programmes, I can truly feel that the festive atmosphere is becoming more vivid and the spirit of the Spring Festival is all around," said Zhou Dao, a Chinese logistics expert working in Tanzania.

The early move into the spring festival mode was meant to greatly help promote excellent traditional culture, boost development of the holiday consumer market, and balance supply and demand, said Zhou Qingjie, a professor at China's Beijing Technology and Business University.