On February 17, the cultural delegation that accompanied the visit to the UK completed its mission and arrived at Beijing Capital International Airport. This marked the end of the "Joyful Dragon for a Happy Chinese New Year" themed  event series organized by the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism after a 20-day journey across 13 cities in 9 countries. It also signified the inaugural round of extensive events to spread Chinese culture during the Spring Festival, or the Lunar New Year, following the official recognition of the festival as a UN floating holiday, indicating that the"Chinese New Year" has become a global celebration.

Starting in San Francisco at the end of January, this year's celebration has traveled through 13 cities in 9 countries spanning North America, South America, and Europe. It has surpassed all its previous editions in terms of the number of cities visited, events held, participants involved, and overall scale.

Over 100 cultural envoys selected from the Central Conservatory of Music, Beijing Chinese Orchestra, Beijing Dance Academy, Beijing Vocational College of Opera and Arts, and several institutions for intangible cultural heritage formed multiple groups to deliver nearly 70 artistic performances, photo exhibitions, cultural fairs, and tourism promotions. There were new additions to this festive occasion, such as London, Edinburgh, Mexico City, Lima, Heidelberg, Vantaa, Tampere, and other famous cosmopolitan cities, indicating a wider circle of friends for Beijing.

Celebrations in large open-air squares, such as London's Trafalgar Square, Mexico's National Centre for the Arts, Tallinn's Rotermann Quarter in Estonia, and Athens' Allou Fun Park in Greece, attracted more than 800,000 spectators. In the UK, King Charles III and Prime Minister Sunak sent congratulatory letters to the event in London; In Mexico, attendees included the Minister for Culture, President's Legal Counsel, and Secretary of Tourism for Mexico City; In Peru, the Minister and Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Foreign Trade and Tourism, and Minister of Culture joined the public in celebrating the Spring Festival; In Greece, the Minister of Agriculture, Deputy Minister of Migration and Asylum, and Mayor of Piraeus were invited to the joyous occasion, which has been held for nine consecutive years; In Finland, the 18-year-old carnival attracted the Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, Mayor of Vantaa, and Mayor of Tampere; In Estonia, the President of the Estonian Olympic Committee also joined the people in celebrating the Spring Festival, which has been a practice for 15 years.

As of February 18, the total impressions of hashtags and posts together with the views of videos related to "Happy Chinese New Year" at home and abroad passed the 30 million mark, reaching over 100 million users through streaming media.

Each overseas Spring Festival gathering not only represents a vivid practice of the Belt and Road Initiative, but also serves as an important move to consolidate and implement exchanges between Beijing and its sister cities, as well as a continuation of transnational friendships bonded by Chinese culture. A decade ago, the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism presented two sets of dragon dance props to Helsinki and Tallinn, and sent coaches in 2019. Since then, Chinese culture has taken root in these two cities, giving rise to the Finnish Dragon and Lion Dance Club and the Estonian Sports and Traditional Wushu Federation, both made up of locals. At the Helsinki Music Centre, the Chinese loong and the Finnish lion were in perfect harmony; Outside the Tampere Hall were a majestic golden Chinese loong and a soaring red Finnish dragon, heralding a new chapter in China-Finland dragon dance cooperation; In Tallinn's Rotermann Quarter, the Chinese loong and the Irish dragon snaked through the crowd, circled the venue and then played with a ball on stage. They even delivered an impromptu performance of the dragon dance version of the "Kemusan" dance at the end of the celebration, earning rapturous ovations from tens of thousands of spectators. A similar story also unfolded in Greece this year. The "Loong of Friendship", a gift from Beijing's cultural groups to Greece during the 2019 edition, was danced again in 2024.

Whenever Chinese and foreign artists join hands to celebrate the Spring Festival, it not only spreads Beijing's festive ambiance to various regions, but also symbolizes a classic scene of exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations. In Heidelberg, Lydia Maria Bader, a German pianist who previously released the album Chinese Dream, played the famous Chinese masterpiece Chasing the Moon. The artists from the Central Conservatory of Music also performed the traditional German piece Song of Baden with Chinese instruments. In London, classic works such as the Peking Opera Deep at Night and Drunken Concubine, Chinese folk music Golden Snake Dances with Rapture and Birds Adoring the Phoenix, as well as novel works such as the Chinese classical dance Palace Dance with Tang Music also enjoy great popularity. In many countries, inheritors of Beijing's intangible cultural heritage have shown local primary and secondary school students how to play the Chinese diabolo, make kites, perform shadow puppetry, and spin pinwheels. The traditional Chinese silk tapestry-making method known as Kesi, along with clay and silk figurines, has spread the lively atmosphere of Beijing's temple fairs to many countries.