Kurdish students of Mandarin hold cultural event to mark Chinese New Year in Erbil 

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – At least a dozen Kurdish students currently studying the Chinese Mandarin language at a public university in Erbil held a cultural festival on Monday to mark the end of the Chinese New Year celebrations. 

The Erbil-based Salahaddin University’s College of Languages is currently providing Chinese language courses as part of a pilot project. If the project succeeds, it will be fully open for students. 

Kurdish students wore traditional Chinese clothes and performed songs in the language for domestic and international guests attending the event. 

A sword performance, displays of Kurdish and Chinese cuisines, and traditional clothes from both nations were on the event’s agenda. 

“We want to deepen and strengthen the relations [between Kurdistan Region and China],” Barzan Sheikh Ja’far, the head of the linguistic school, told Kurdistan 24 on Monday. 

Relations between the Kurdistan Region and China go all the way back to the time of the Chinese Han Dynasty when the Silk Road trade route linked China with Europe through the Middle East, according to the linguist. 

Through the ambitious Belt and Road Initiative announced in 2013, China is eager to expand its economic ties with the world, including the Middle East. 

Chinese companies currently dominate Iraq’s energy sector. They are also heavily involved in investment, infrastructure, and transportation, in the country.

More Chinese companies will come to the Kurdistan Region in 2022, Chinese diplomat Ni Ruchi told Kurdistan 24 last year. 

Read More: More Chinese companies will come to Kurdistan Region in 2022: Diplomat

In late 2021, Iraq signed a series of deals with Chinese companies to build 1,000 schools to improve the country’s dilapidated education system.