SYDNEY’S popular Chinese New Year celebrations will be more inclusive than ever this year, with a wider range of multi-cultural communities to be celebrated through the first Sydney Lunar Festival.
The festival will welcome tourists from around the world, as well as Sydney’s Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese, Thai, Indonesian and Malaysian communities, to celebrate the Year of the Pig.
The 2019 celebrations will take place from February 1-10.
A major highlight of this year’s festival will be the Lunar Lanterns Exhibition – a contemporary interpretation of the 12 animal signs of the Chinese Zodiac which will line the foreshore from the Sydney Opera House, around Circular Quay to the Overseas Passenger Terminal.
This year four new lanterns created by Chinese-Australian and Australian artists will be unveiled.
The festival will also feature nightly lion dancing, dragon boat races featuring over 3000 participants and more than 80 associated events including performances, art exhibitions, film screenings and historical tours.
Lord Mayor Clover Mayor said the city had met with representatives from a number of key community organisations to make the Sydney Lunar Festival a reality.
“This is about taking our festival to the next level without forgetting where it came from and that’s why the festival will feature key Chinese New Year elements and events including a spectacular lantern feature in the heart of Chinatown,” she said.
“I look forward to celebrating the Year of the Pig with residents, businesses and visitors.”
More than 1.3 million people attended last year’s festival.
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