Chinese New Year: Celebrating Spring Festival in style in Moscow

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Europe

Now to a Spring Festival that is celebrating in style -- with modern art from a leading designer and food from a 3-Michelin-star chef. And it isn't in Beijing or Shanghai, but in Moscow. The show at an iconic department store is designed to attract more Chinese tourists to the Russian capital ... and to show Russians modern Chinese life. Lucy Taylor checked it out.

Thousands of miles from home And showing off the best of China. From sugary treats to sweet music. They're pulling out all the stops. This is Moscow's oldest department store. And it is celebrating Spring Festival in grand style. There's even new artwork by a leading designer to mark the occasion.

JACKY TSAI ARTIST "The main way is to combine the Chinese and the Russian culture, together in harmony. So you can see the Russian doll and the Chinese doll. They are facing each other."

It's all a sign of the significance of the Chinese market in Moscow.

LUCY TAYLOR MOSCOW Russia welcomes more than a million Chinese visitors a year and its tourism agency expects that to rise by as much as 10 percent this year. And you can see from the scale of these New Year celebrations how much Moscow stores are to make Chinese shoppers feel at home."

Russia is already waiving VAT on its luxury goods for foreigners hoping to attract more buyers from the East.

GONG JIAJIA DIRECTOR, CHINESE CULTURAL CENTRE IN MOSCOW "A lot of Chinese people are choosing to come here, and I think all these decorations will create a great atmosphere and allow them to spend their holidays, and spend more money here in a good mood!"

But as well as catering to visitors, the festival also aims to teach Russians about modern Chinese life.

VOX POPS "We're from rural Russia, we're not quite familiar with this tradition. We have only found out now that apparently there's a Chinese New Year in February! I am studying the Chinese language, I am interested in Chinese culture and traditions, and I wanted to find out how my name would be written in Chinese characters."

The Russian new year in January is already this country's most important public holiday. But as far as these people are concerned, you can never have too much of a good thing. Lucy Taylor, CGTN, in Moscow.