Year of the Monkey celebrated in central London

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, January 26, 2004

Year of the Monkey celebrated in central London

Around 40,000 people were expected to gather in central London Sunday to celebrate the Lunar New Year, police said as official festivities kicked off to welcome the Chinese Year of the Monkey.

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Chinese New Year celebrated in London

Around 40,000 people were expected to gather in central London Sunday to celebrate the Lunar New Year, police said as official festivities kicked off to welcome the Chinese Year of the Monkey.

Festivities in the capital, home to 60,000 ethnic Chinese, started with a tree-planting ceremony in Chinatown, with a colourful parade moving through nearby Leicester Square to Trafalgar Square.

In keeping with Chinese tradition, a ceremony attended by London Mayor Ken Livingstone was officially opened by "dotting the eyes" of a dancing dragon, symbolising the waking of the mystical beast.

Fireworks, acrobatics, martial arts, fan dancing, and Sichuan and Beijing opera were to fill out the afternoon, with a "monkey king" lined up to welcome the new year which started on Thursday, organisers said.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Livingstone announced plans to create a second Chinatown in the east of London.

He said: "The second Chinatown will be at the centre of tourism in London. It will take a few months to get the paperwork right but I am committed to this."

The current Chinatown is small compared with other cities with significant ethnic Chinese populations, such as Toronto and Sydney, but it enjoys a high profile thanks to its location in Soho, the central London tourist and entertainment district.

Meanwhile, as part of celebrations in Manchester, where 30,000 ethnic Chinese live, a "golden dragon parade" was to snake through the town centre to Chinatown where organisers promised "dazzling entertainment" plus fairground rides and oriental food stalls.

Official celebrations were to end at nightfall with fireworks.

By one estimate, there are 300,000 ethnic Chinese throughout Britain, from mainland Chinese students to the British-born descendants of 1960s immigrants from Hong Kong's rural New Territories.

The Lunar New Year, celebrated by Chinese people around the world, is determined by a lunar calendar, meaning its date varies each year between late January and mid-February.

Source: Agencies

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