A flag-raising ceremony is held at the Tiananmen Square in Beijing on January 1, 2025. Photo: VCG

When the first rays of the sun shone over Tiananmen Square on Wednesday morning, the very first day of 2025, 51,000 Beijing residents and tourists from across the country sang the national anthem and watched the national flag rise to the top of the flagpole along with 10 thousand doves flapping their wings at 7:36 am. Meanwhile, Five-star Red Flags fluttered at Golden Bahinia Square in Hong Kong, at China's highest border check point in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, and in the People's Liberation Army (PLA) garrison stationed in Nansha Qundao in the South China Sea… China is embracing a vibrant New Year of 2025. 

Even though there are challenges and uncertainties ahead, the country, cheered by President Xi Jinping's New Year message, welcomes 2025 with hope, confidence and determination. 

In 2024, we have together journeyed through the four seasons. Together, we have experienced winds and rains and seen rainbows. Those touching and unforgettable moments have been like still frames showing how extraordinary a year we have had, Xi said, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

"In 2025, we will fully complete the 14th Five-Year Plan. We will implement more proactive and effective policies, pursue high-quality development as a top priority, promote greater self-reliance and strength in science and technology, and maintain sound momentum in economic and social development. The Chinese economy now faces some new conditions, including challenges of uncertainties in the external environment and pressure of transformation from old growth drivers into new ones. But we can prevail with our hard work. As always, we grow in the wind and rain, and we get stronger through hard times. We must be confident," Xi said. 

"Of all the jobs in front of us, the most important is to ensure a happy life for our people. Every family hopes that their children can have a good education, their seniors can enjoy good elderly services, and their youngsters can have more and better opportunities. These simple wishes are our people's aspirations for a better life. We should work together to steadily improve social undertakings and governance, build a harmonious and inclusive atmosphere, and settle real issues, big or small, for our people. We must bring more smiles to our people and greater warmth to their hearts," Xi said. 

Xi also said that no one can ever stop China's reunification, a trend of the times. "We Chinese on both sides of the Taiwan Straits belong to one and the same family. No one can ever sever the bond of kinship between us," he said.

China will unswervingly implement the policy of "one country, two systems" to maintain long-term prosperity and stability in Hong Kong and Macao, he said.

Year of Hope 

"The moment I saw the national flag rising slowly in the morning sun, the freezing cold during the wait was forgotten," Wei Tong, an employee at a foreign trade company in Beijing, told the Global Times. 

"We extended New Year greetings to strangers. I made wishes for myself, my family and of courses for our motherland… It is a moment when I feel united with so many people, with hope and high morale," Wei said. 

President Xi especially mentioned opportunities for youngsters, and his words are cheerful, Wei said. "Although there are uncertainties for my own industry of foreign trade, they should be catalysts for endeavors, not an excuse for sitting idly." 

Wei's hope for 2025 is to get a pay increase through hard work, move to a bigger apartment, and invite her parents from her hometown to come to see Beijing. 

It is a small, personal wish. Yet it is the combination of wishes from 1.4 billion people and their unwavering efforts to realize those wishes that sustains China's solid steps forward. 

Guo Fengyang, a PhD candidate in Germany, came to the ceremony after attending an academic forum in Beijing. "This is the fifth year of my PhD studies, and I do hope to return to the motherland at an early date, make contributions to nation's development in AI field and benefit the people," Guo told Xinhua. 

Across the country, people bid farewell to 2024 and embraced 2025 in diverse ways, from booking banquets with family and friends, to watching grand firework displays and drone light shows. As the New Year holiday is not linked to a weekend, people tend to make local excursions or take advantage of the day to visit hot springs and ski resorts, according to an industry report released by rating platform Meituan.    

The vibrant and jubilant atmosphere foretells Chinese people's hope for another fruitful year despite challenges, said Fan Peng, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences' Institute of Political Sciences. 

Facing international political uncertainty and emerging internal challenges, China's strategic stability and consistency, complete economic structure, effective governance and strong national cohesion can guarantee goals of the 14th Five-Year Plan can be met and bigger aspirations for the future can be realized, Fan said.   

'Rise above estrangement, conflict' 

Many world leaders have extended New Year messages for a 2025 which is predicted to be a year of great uncertainty and turbulence. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin stressed Russia's destiny and well-being of its people has always been and will remain our absolute value while being proud of the soldiers and commanders' bravery and valor, Tass reported.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said: "You, the citizens, decide what happens in Germany," in his New Year's address, "It's not up to the owners of social media," according to Politico, which said Scholz was referring to X owner Elon Musk who endorsed the far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD) ahead of Germany's snap election on February 23. 

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that 2025 would be a year of rebuilding, with his government looking to turn the corner after a turbulent first six months in power, the Guardian reported.

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba pledged to tackle pressing security, economic and demographic issues through his minority government, working with opposition parties "sincerely and humbly" to ensure better lives for the public, Kyodo News reported. 

In a world of major changes, each country has its own challenges and missions. China cannot control the direction of the changes, yet it can master its own path of modernization and national rejuvenation, observers said. 

In his New Year address, President Xi stressed that as changes unseen in a century accelerate across the world, it is important to rise above estrangement and conflict with a broad vision, and care for the future of humanity with great passion. China will work with all countries to promote friendship and cooperation, enhance mutual learning among different cultures, and build a community with a shared future for mankind. We must jointly create a better future for the world.

Dreams and wishes may be far, but they can be fulfilled with dedicated pursuit. On the new journey of Chinese modernization, everyone is a key actor, every effort counts, and every ray of light shines, Xi said.