Rabbit images gain popularity as Year of Rabbit celebrated around world

With this year’s Spring Festival, or the Chinese New Year for 2023, marking the Chinese zodiac Year of the Rabbit, elements of the animal in various forms of art, including stamps, colorful lights and lanterns, street posters, decorations at shopping malls, and animated short films, have swept across the world.

Photo shows people looking at a giant rabbit-shaped Spring Festival decoration in a shopping mall in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. (Xinhua/Zhang Wenzong)

Various types of decorations, shows, and activities featuring rabbits, including a colorful rabbit-shaped lantern at Trafalgar Square in London, UK, an animated short film about the Chinese zodiac rabbit on a big screen at the entrance of a theater in Madrid, Spain, and rabbit-themed ice sculptures on a pedestrian street in downtown Helsinki, Finland, have created a strong festive Chinese New Year atmosphere for overseas Chinese, while stoking the interest of people from other countries in traditional Chinese culture.

In late January this year, the United Nations Postal Administration and the United States Postal Service both issued stamp sheets for the 2023 Chinese New Year of the Rabbit, pointed out Li Rong, vice president of the China Council for the Promotion of Peaceful National Reunification (New York).

"You can see elements of rabbit almost everywhere in New York! There are eye-catching rabbit decorations at various shopping malls and in carnival floats. Many Chinese people and local residents dressed their children up as rabbits. Toy companies have rolled out large numbers of popular rabbit-shaped soft toys. Rabbit elements have really dominated various Spring Festival celebrations held by overseas Chinese organizations and communities in the U.S.," Li said.

Photo shows a trolleybus featuring the Chinese New Year of the Rabbit on a street in Rome, Italy. (Xinhua/Jin Mamengni)

"Chinese zodiac culture has penetrated deep into the minds of people in the U.S., and many people know about the Chinese zodiac animals," Li said, noting that many Americans actually knew about the Chinese New Year from Chinese zodiac animals.

"The 12 Chinese zodiac animals have promoted the bonds between the Chinese people and people around the world," Li added.

Recently, a video of Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese celebrating the Spring Festival together with overseas Chinese in Melbourne, Australia, has gone viral on social media platforms. In the video, Albanese excitedly showed off his rabbit-patterned red tie to people around him.

"Prime Minister Albanese was born in the Year of the Rabbit, so he likes the tie very much and shows off it to everyone he meets," said Nan Jingjing, president of Nan International Media, a company based in Melbourne, who was also present at the Spring Festival celebration held in Melbourne.

A giant rabbit sculpture that is 5.3 meters high, 3.3 meters wide, and weighing 280 kilograms on Jonker Walk, the Chinatown area in Malacca, Malaysia, caught the eyes of many visitors.

Stamp designer Chen Jianghong displays commemorative stamps he designed for the 2023 Chinese New Year of the Rabbit at a stamp issuing ceremony held in Paris, France, Jan. 14. (Xinhua/Gao Jing)

Every year since 2012, a giant sculpture featuring that year’s zodiac animal has been erected there, becoming an important activity and a popular tourist attraction in the area, said Gan Tian Loo, vice-chairman of the Malaysia-China Public Relations Association.

"Chinese zodiac culture still has a great influence on people in Malaysia, especially Chinese communities. Basically, every Chinese who grows up in Malaysia knows about the Chinese zodiac culture and knows his or her zodiac animal," Gan said.

Colorful lanterns featuring the rabbit have also been seen in the streets of Munich, Germany, this year, according to Tang Zhihong, head of an art troupe in the city. Each year, mainstream media in Germany introduces that year’s Chinese zodiac animal around the Spring Festival, and many Germans know the zodiac animal for their year of birth, Tang said.

A visitor takes a photo of a colorful rabbit-shaped lantern at Trafalgar Square in London, UK. (Xinhua/Li Ying)

Chinese Canadian artist Zhang Shufeng has been very busy around the Spring Festival this year, crafting not only a snow sculpture featuring two rabbits in front of his house, but also two giant snow rabbit sculptures for a municipal park for the Chinese New Year celebrations at the invitation of the municipal government of Montreal.

Human beings tend to have affection for animals, which are also artistic themes that are popular with different nationalities and which also serve as a bridge of communication between different nationalities and cultures, Zhang said.

Canadians have shown more knowledge of and interest in traditional Chinese culture, including the Chinese zodiac, according to Zhang.

"This year, when a local TV station came to interview me, an assistant of the reporter who wore a red hat told me that her zodiac animal is the rabbit. In the municipal park, a tall, young local man, who was wearing a red down jacket showed me the color of his clothes with excitement and told me that he was born in the Year of the Rabbit," Zhang said.