Chinese Culture Minister Luo Shugang views photos on display at the National Art Museum of China in Beijing, on Oct 8, 2016. [Photo/Chinaculture.org]

Chinese Culture Minister Luo Shugang paid a special visit to the themed photo exhibition Happy Chinese New Year - Celebrations Worldwide at the National Art Museum of China in Beijing on Saturday.

Touring around some 100 photos that were taken by photographers worldwide during February's lunar New Year celebrations, Luo said he was highly impressed by the photographic skills and hoped more people worldwide could understand the festival's core values of joy and harmony.

The Happy Chinese New Year - Celebrations Worldwide exhibition was open from Sept 29 to Oct 9, attracting some 5,000 visits daily. It reviewed how people in 140 countries and regions enjoyed over 2,000 cultural events - exhibitions, expos and performances - under the Chinese Culture Ministry's special program of Happy Chinese New Year.

Since 2001, the ministry has presented a variety of activities in many countries under the program, attempting to promote cultures of the 400-year-old lunar New Year, or Spring Festival, and boost cultural exchanges.

These activities not only help pass down festival traditions to younger generations of Chinese immigrants living abroad, but also help more people understand the festival's spirit, no matter if it's family cohesion, harmony between humans and nature or world peace.