Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations held in London

February 2nd was the first Sunday of the Year of the Horse - and as usual, London put on a big celebration to mark the Chinese New Year. The activity attracted 500,000 residents and tourists, drumming up a festive atmosphere across the British capital.


Red lanterns and other festive decorations decked out London’s Trafalgar Square for the celebrations of Chinese new year. This is the 14th year that the square played host to activities marking the Spring Festival. The square and China Town were flooded with crowds, watching a float parade. Unsurprisingly, the dragon and lion dance performances were the most popular acts.

Thousands of revellers braved the cold to be a part of the festival, soaking up a little taste of China in the capital.

"On average there are 500 thousand people joining the fun. It testifies to the fact that Chinese culture is more and more recognized by foreign people." Said Liu Xiaoming, Chinese ambassador to UK.

The Year of the Horse celebrations also spread to The London Eye and Madame Tussauds. And other UK cities including Liverpool, Manchester and Oxford also saw some horsey, Chinese-themed celebrations. The festivities will continue until the lantern festival, the fifteenth day of the first lunar month.

And the celebrations also extended to shopping malls. On Sunday at a mall in South London’s Croydon, performers put on a display of ethnic Chinese dances, while children were showing off their newly learned Kung fu skills. All of the performers are from London’s Confucius Institute for Traditional Chinese Medicine, bringing a slice of Chinese culture to the Sunday shoppers here.

"It’s pretty good. I’ve found the festive atmosphere of Spring Festival in a place far away from China."

It is becoming a tradition for the Institute to hold Chinese new year celebrations throughout the UK.

The group have a total of 55 stage shows in store over the Chinese holiday period. They will also hold workshops on papercutting, the writing of Chinese couplets and embroidery- all informing local people about Chinese culture.

"Every year our activities have had very good feedback. We performed here during the last lunar new year, and they’ve invited us to come back again this year." Yu Yannan, project manager of Confucius Institute for TCM, London, said.

The event boosted the number of shoppers to the London mall, totalling 50 thousand on Sunday afternoon alone.