Lion, dragon dances staged in Cambodia to celebrate Chinese New Year

PHNOM PENH, Jan. 28 (Xinhua) -- Folk artists performed lion and dragon dances in Cambodia on Tuesday to celebrate the Chinese New Year, or the Spring Festival, which will fall on Wednesday.

The dancers from eight different troupes jointly staged at the Royal Palace in the capital Phnom Penh and were greeted by Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Royal Palace Minister Kuy Sophal.

Spring Festival, social practices of the Chinese people in celebration of the traditional New Year, was inscribed on UNESCO's representative list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity on Dec. 4, 2024.

Diep Sophal, a history professor at the University of Cambodia, said the festival is broadly celebrated in the Southeast Asian country, particularly among Cambodians living in urban areas.

"Days prior to the New Year, Cambodian people of Chinese descent always clean and decorate their houses with red color paper-cuts, flowers, red lanterns and Chinese couplets," he told Xinhua.

The professor said lion dance is usually invited by traditional Chinese families to perform as a symbolic ritual to usher in the Spring Festival and to ward off bad luck and evil spirits.

"Cambodian people celebrate, make offerings, or hold other Chinese rituals during the Chinese New Year because they believe that these will increase their luck," Sophal said.

"I am happy to see that the peoples of the two nations have joined hands to build a culture of peace, a culture of good coexistence," he added.