Chinese New Year in Finland: Bringing Tech to the Fair

This was our second Chinese New Year in Finland, and the first time I had actually helped run part of the fair itself.

The Finnish Chinese New Year Fair had been quiet for four years. When it came back, I joined the organizers and worked with a few friends to build the tech setup for the event: a Blessing Wall and a live lottery screen. It was behind-the-scenes work. My job was to keep things running.

A Wall of Blessings That Actually Feels Alive

The Blessing Wall turned out to be one of the most active parts of the fair. People only had to scan a QR code on their phone to send a blessing to the big screen.

On the day of the event, messages kept coming in one after another:

• "🤟🏻新年新起点，新年新能量，冲鸭！"（🤟🏻 A new year, a fresh start, let’s go!）
• "Celebrate the joy of sharing delicious food during the New Year festivities! 🍽️🎉"
• "Hyvää uutta vuotta kaikille ja olkoon tämä vuosi sinun vuotesi ❤️" (Finnish: Happy New Year, may this year be your year!)
• "Hyvää uutta vuotta! 我在芬兰很想你！" (Finnish: Happy New Year! I miss you so much in Finland!)
• "博士毕业🎓，祝贺你新年取得更多成就！" (Congratulations on earning your Ph.D.! Wishing you even greater achievements this year!)
• "希望全家身体健康，团团圆圆！" (Wishing health and happiness to the whole family!)

Some messages made everyone smile:

• "卡姐的中文真是棒极了！" (卡姐’s Chinese is amazing!) Yes, 卡姐 is the host this year and a popular influencer in Helsinki.
• "My feet are freezing, but I’m so happy! I hope everyone feels the warmth and joy of the New Year Fair!"
• "I want that little dragon!" (It seems our prizes were quite popular!)
• "€500, here I come! Looking forward to the excitement of the New Year Fair!"

The messages said a lot about the atmosphere that day. After the fair, we checked the data and found that the busiest moment was five minutes before the lottery, with an average of 282 messages per minute. From behind the screen, I watched people look for their own blessings, take photos when they saw them appear, and laugh when they found a message they liked. That was the part that stayed with me. Technology was not the story by itself. It was just the thing that made the crowd feel a little more connected.

A Few That Stuck With Me

"Spanish: Sending lots of love from Puerto Rico!" The fair drew people from various countries, and in addition to Chinese and Finnish, we saw many blessings in other languages celebrating the New Year.

"Khmer: Happy New Year"

"Farsi: Mom, I love you. Wishing you joy and success in the New Year. Blessings to all!"

"Korean: Wishing you wealth and prosperity in the New Year!"

"Finnish: I love Finland and China. Happy New Year!"

Our host, 卡姐, became a crowd favorite. Later analysis showed that hundreds of blessings were dedicated to her alone.

"Shoutout to my friends from Shanghai! ❤️"

"Finnish: I hope my cancer will be cured so we can celebrate the joy of the New Year together ❤️" This person sent several similar blessings, each filled with hope. It moved me deeply, and I silently wished them good health and happiness in the coming year.

The Busy AI Behind the Warmth

Behind the Blessing Wall was a quiet but very useful helper: an AI system. It checked each blessing before it went on screen and filtered out the obviously wrong stuff. If someone wrote something off-topic, the system would turn it into a normal New Year blessing. It even fixed typos. Most people probably never noticed it, which was probably the best outcome.

The hardworking AI was the unsung hero ensuring everything ran smoothly.

The Lottery: The Part Everyone Waited For

What is a fair without a lottery? After the blessing wall finished scrolling, we picked one lucky participant from all the submitted messages, showed their name and blessing on the big screen, and gave them a New Year gift.

During the lottery, everyone kept staring at the screen. Behind it, I was the one clicking stop. The host would call “Start,” the names would race by, and when the host said “Stop,” I would freeze the screen on one winner. It was a small task, but the crowd’s reaction made it feel much bigger than it was.

I still remember one message that said, “Happy New Year, wishing for a lovely baby dragon!” When it came up, her friends cheered and pushed her toward the stage to pick up the prize. The whole square reacted at once. That was the moment the lottery really came alive.

Seeing the audience laugh and cheer was enough. That was the part that made the work feel worth doing.

A post on Xiaohongshu capturing our lottery segment in action.

Seeing Chinese New Year From Behind the Screen

My job was not complicated. I just helped keep the Blessing Wall and lottery running. But standing behind the screen and watching the messages roll by, I realized that the fair only works because of this kind of small, practical support.

Whether it was the AI checking messages or the screen design itself, the goal was the same: use simple tools to make people feel a little closer to each other. On a cold Finnish winter day, that was enough.

More than 20,000 people came to Kamppi Square that day. I watched most of it from behind a screen.

There was one message that stayed with me: “I hope my cancer will be cured so we can celebrate the joy of the New Year together.” The person sent several similar blessings throughout the event, each with the same hope. I did not know who they were. The message went up on the screen in front of the crowd and then scrolled away.

A Chinese New Year fair in Helsinki in January, 20,000 people in the square, and someone sending that message alone into the crowd.

This kind of lively crowd is a rare sight in Helsinki.

If I get another chance to do this, I would. Not for the technology. For the few minutes when people look up at the screen and find their own words.