世上有许多国家都在12月31日，也就是跨年夜举行活动，庆祝新一年的来临。如澳大利亚、新西兰、英国、日本和美国，人们会同朋友家人聚会，迎接新的一年。人们通常会在午夜倒数，并燃放烟花以示庆祝。

December 31st, or New Year’s Eve is an important celebration around the world. In many countries around the world such as Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Japan, and the USA, people will gather with friends and family to see in the new year. People will often count down to midnight and set off fireworks to celebrate.

不过，还有许多国家的新年时间有所不同。许多东南亚国家不认为一月是一年的开始。比如，在泰国，新年被称为 "泼水节 "或宋干节，于4月13日至16日期间举行节日活动。一些非洲国家，如埃塞俄比亚等等，会在9月11日庆祝新年，届时雨季结束，农作物迎来丰收季。

However, there are many countries which celebrate their New Year at different times. Lots of South East Asian countries don’t consider January to be the beginning of the year. In Thailand, for example, the New Year is known as the ‘Water Festival’ or Songkran in the Thai language. It is celebrated in April from the 13th until the 16th. Some African countries such as Ethiopia will celebrate the New Year on September 11th, when the rainy season ends and the harvest of crops begins. 

而在中国，我们将农历年的岁首称为春节，这也是华人一年中最隆重的传统节日。2023年正月初一为1月22日。春节期间，国人往往要与亲人团聚，吃团圆饭，张灯结彩，辞旧迎新，举办一系列庆祝活动……

In China, we call the first day of the year of the lunar calendar the Spring Festival, which is the grandest traditional festival of the year for Chinese people. The first day of the 2023 Chinese New Year begins on January 22. During the Spring Festival, the Chinese people tend to reunite with their relatives, eat reunion dinners, decorate with lights, say goodbye to the old and welcome the new, and hold a series of celebrations...

“昔者仓颉作书，而天雨粟，鬼夜哭。”作为最古老的文字，汉字以其强大的生命力和独特的魅力成为了中华文明的传承载体，蕴藏着丰富的审美与诗意。为了感受汉字的魅力，弘扬书法艺术，也提前庆祝春节，福州西湖国际学校举办了一年一度“时光之蔚，岁月之美”书法比赛。希望孩子们在汉字的一撇一捺中感知时光流转，在一笔一划中感受成长。

"In the old days, Cangjie created the characters, while the sky rained corn and the ghosts cried at night." As the oldest script, Chinese characters have become the carrier of Chinese civilization with their strong vitality and unique charm, and are rich in aesthetic and poetic meaning. In order to experience the charm of Chinese characters, to promote the art of calligraphy, and to celebrate the Chinese New Year in advance, Fuzhou Lakeside International School held its annual "Beauty of Time" calligraphy contest. We hope that the students will feel the flow of time in each stroke of the Chinese characters and grow up in each stroke.

受疫情影响，此次比赛改为线上进行。尽管是线上比赛，中小学的学生积极参赛的热情丝毫未减。这次比赛一共收到小学生作品50份，中学生作品63份，其中12份作品来自对外汉语班的孩子。获奖作品字迹或娟秀、或苍劲，如行云流水，令人赏心悦目！所有的荣誉，都不会辜负每一份努力和用心。愿孩子们以字养心，以心练字，既写岁月，也写珍惜。用汉字书写属于自己的岁月之美！

Due to the impact of the epidemic, the competition was changed to online. Despite the online competition, the enthusiasm of students from primary and secondary schools to actively participate in the competition was not diminished at all. The contest received 50 entries from Primary students and 63 entries from MYP and High school students, including 12 entries from foreign language students. The handwriting of the winning entries was either beautiful or strong, like flowing water, which was a delight to the eyes! All the honors will not disappoint every effort and dedication. May the children use their words to nurture their hearts and practice with their minds. Use Chinese characters to write the beauty of their own years!

小学书法比赛名次

一等奖 1st place

G5G Jason

二等奖 2nd place

G5Y Ziyi  

G3 Roy

三等奖 3rd place

G5G Antony  

G5Y Puiki

G5Y Jinghan

优秀奖honorable mention

G4 Seven Lin

G4 Jayden

G3 Elisa

G3 Noah

中学书法比赛名次

特等奖 Grand prize

MYP5 Carlyn

一等奖 1st place

MYP5 Sophie

二等奖 2nd place

MYP2 Mutian 

MYP3 Tina

三等奖 3rd place

MYP3 Esther

MYP3 Edward

MYP5 Paul

优秀奖 Honorable mention

MYP1 Juto 

MYP2 Helen 

MYP3 Sonia

MYP3 Wickey 

MYP2 Olivia 

MYP2 Kathryn

MYP5 Lucy 

MYP3 Milly

最后，寒假已至，欢迎大家将假期里发生的好玩、好吃、好看、对你而言十分有意义的瞬间记录下来，并扫描下方二维码上传相关文字，照片或视频，与大家一起分享这一瞬间！学生部将精选部分内容在FLIS公众号及校广播站发布。明天就是除夕夜，在此祝全体FLIS师生春节快乐，万事如意！希望我们都有很好的一年！

Finally, winter break is here, you are welcome to record the fun, delicious, nice and very meaningful moments that happened during the break for you, and scan the code to upload relevant text, photos or videos to share the moment with everyone! The Student Affairs will publish some of the content on FLIS official WeChat account and school radio station”Voice of FLIS”. Tomorrow is New Year's Eve, we wish all FLIS family members a happy and prosperous Chinese New Year! Hope we all have a very good year!