China's Space Sector Celebrates the Spring Festival

Various entities in China's space sector joined in on the celebrations for the Spring Festival.

Jan 28, 2025

Spring Festival lanterns in Xi’an Shaanxi province on January 22nd. — Spring Festival lanterns in Xi’an Shaanxi province on January 22nd, via China Daily.

China is celebrating the Spring Festival (春节), also known as the Chinese New Year, on January 29th, beginning the year of the snake (蛇). For the festival, eight days of holidays are taking place to allow families to reunite while enjoying large banquets, decorating with various red decorations, as well as watching parades and fantastical fireworks shows.

The Year of the Snake symbolizes wisdom, intuition, elegance, and transformation, bringing a time for introspection, strategy, and encouraging thoughtful decisions and renewal. Those born in the year are considered to be rational, calm, thoughtful, and loyal to their loved ones.

During the festival, the various space companies and agencies of China shared posters online in celebration. Like with the Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋节), the New Year, and 75th National Day (国庆节), almost all of these posters were solely shared on Chinese social media platforms, such as Weibo and WeChat. Due to this, I’ve compiled them all here with links back to the original posts, or where they were found. (If you have found one that I didn’t include please do reach out).

In addition, the Shenzhou-19 crew aboard the Tiangong Space Station, Cai Xuzhe (蔡旭哲), Wang Haoze (王浩泽), and Song Lingdong (宋令东), shared short messages to those celebrating the Spring Festival back on Earth. The crew’s message was as follows:

Cai: “I am Shenzhou-19 mission commander Cai Xuzhe. Our crew is now on a business trip in space. From here, I wish our motherland and people a prosperous and auspicious Year of the Snake, and wish you good fortune and happiness.”

Wang: “Hello, everyone. I am taikonaut Wang Haoze, born in the 1990s. During our business trip in space, we, just like all of you who are hard-working and dedicated to the job, have been leading a busy and fulfilling life. In the new year, I wish all of your dreams come true.”

Song: “I am Song Lingdong, a post-90s taikonaut. I am very lucky to have a great time and realize my dream in space. In the new year, I wish all our young friends can have light in their eyes, dreams in their hearts and a promising future.”

All three: “We are sending out the Chinese New Year’s greeting from our home in space. Wishing all the people in the country peace and well-being, and may dreams be realized. We wish our great motherland peace, prosperity, and bountiful harvests. May it continue to thrive and flourish.”

If you have a spare five hours and have not seen it already, I would also recommend watching China Media Group’s (中央广播电视总台) Spring Festival Gala, as seen by 1.5 billion people last night across over 200 countries and regions.