The heart and soul of Sydney’s Lunar New Year will be on show in Chinatown, with a host of celebrations set to welcome in the Year of the Rooster.
With the auspicious red glow of lanterns above Dixon Street’s restaurants and shops, visitors to the area will discover a range of special events and performances.
“Chinatown is the cultural heart of our Lunar New Year celebrations, which have grown from a small community festival to one of the biggest and best outside Asia,” Lord Mayor Clover Moore said.
“This Chinese New Year we’re excited to shine a spotlight on the talented performers, chefs and businesses of the Haymarket precinct, and encourage Sydneysiders and visitors alike to get involved in everything on offer.”
The Dixon Street Chinese New Year Lanterns are presented by Haymarket Chamber of Commerce in partnership with City of Sydney and Transport for NSW.
Chinatown Lion Dances
A millennium of Chinese lion dance traditions will come to life in Dixon Street as gongs and drums herald the arrival of colourful costumed dancers. Flamboyant and fierce, groups of talented performers will parade their skilful embodiment of the lion-beast spirit for all to see.
Red firecrackers will roar into the sky to frighten away bad fortune and ensure a happy and prosperous new year.
Visitors can marvel at lion dance performances with traditional Chinese crackers at 6pm and 6:30pm on:
Friday 3 and 10 February Thursday 2 and 9 February Saturday 4 and 11 February Sunday 5 and 12 February
Additional lion dance performances organised by the Dixon Street Chinese Committee will take place on 28 January and 5 February from 12pm-4pm.
Chinatown Markets
Visitors can travel from Hong Kong to Hanoi, then step from Penang to Phnom Penh, samplingthe food market stalls of Little Hay Street. There’ll be favourites like yum cha, teppanyaki, takoyaki, Szechuan and bibimbap, plus red bean and green-tea flavoured desserts.
Held on Friday evenings, the street feast is produced by Blue Sky Markets.
Friday 3 and 10 February from 4pm-11pm.
The Pentatonic Rooster
A flock of vibrant rooster lanterns will perch on Dixon Street, celebrating the optimistic and future-focused rooster zodiac. Created byBeijing-born artist Tianli Zu, the lanterns were inspired by traditional Chinese instruments and the five-note pentatonic musical scale.
A gong and cymbal form the rooster’s head and body and its wattle is a bell. Flutes form its legs, its feet are piccolos, and panpipes its comb. Visitors can strike its musical gong or peep through the eye of the smallest rooster to view the kaleidoscope within.
Sichuan Art Group Performances at Dixon Street Mall
Opera and puppetry will flourish in Haymarket as the City welcomes an international delegation of visiting artists from China’s south-west province of Sichuan. A free cultural show by talented Chinese performers sent by the Sichuan Art Group is set to dazzle Dixon Street.
The initiative, supported by the Chinese Ministry of Culture, will take place on Saturday 4 February at 6pm and features spectacular performances from the Institute of Sichuan Opera and Chuanbei Big Puppet Show by Sichuan Provincial Puppet Theatre.
For full details on the Sydney Chinese Year Festival program visit sydneychinesenewyear.com
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For media inquiries or images, contact City of Sydney Senior Media Advisor Elaine Kelly on 0477 362 550 or ekelly@cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au or Event Publicist Sandy Ellison on 0419 383 807 or sellison@cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au