Chinese New Year

Chinese dancers onstage in Trafalgar Square, 2008

Visitors to Trafalgar Square, Leicester Square and the streets around Chinatown will be able to see in the Year of the Ox in traditional style with lion dances, food, firecrackers and fireworks.

The main stage returns to Trafalgar Square and will showcase the official opening ceremony at 12 noon, followed by Chinese acrobatics, dragon dances and performances by artists from Qinghai and Kunming in China.

And Gerrard Street in Soho will once again provide the focus for a specially decorated Chinatown with stalls selling food, cultural items and decorations.

There some changes afoot for 2009 however.

• The street parade, a colourful feature of previous years, will be replaced by a stage on Shaftesbury Avenue, with performances by local Chinese artists.
• There will be a guest appearance by HaiBao, the mascot of the 2010 Shanghai World Expo, throughout the day.
• And the Shanghai 2010 theme continues with a week of special events in London centred around seminars and displays at the V&A.
• City Hall meanwhile will also host a photo exhibition of urban Shanghai and the British Museum opens a new display of treasures from China's largest city, featuring ancient jades and bronzes from the Zhou dynasty.

Although Chinese New Year's Day falls on 26 January, the London Chinatown Chinese Association traditionally holds the capital's Chinese New Year celebrations on the first Sunday after Chinese New Year's Day.

2009 is the Year of the Ox. People born under this sign are said to be good leaders, methodical and good at making things.

Famous oxen include Dame Shirley Bassey and Jack Nicholson.

USEFUL LINKS:

Chinese New Year 2009 runs from 12noon to 18.00pm on Sunday 1 February 2009 at various venues in central London.