- Title: Rain fails to hamper London celebrating Lunar New Year
- Date: 30th January 2017
- Summary: POLICE AND CHINESE LANTERNS IN TRAFALGAR SQUARE
- Embargoed: 13th February 2017 02:54
- Keywords: Lunar New Year Chinese New Year Sadiq Khan parade lion dance
- Location: LONDON, ENGLAND, UK
- City: LONDON, ENGLAND, UK
- Country: United Kingdom
- Topics: Human Interest/Brights/Odd News,Society/Social Issues
- Reuters ID: LVA005614VDXJ
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Thousands of people turned out in London's Trafalgar Square despite the rain to take part take in festivities celebrating the Lunar New Year on Sunday (January 29).
The celebrations welcoming the Year of the Rooster started with a colourful Chinese New Year parade that snaked its way from Charing Cross Road to Shaftesbury Avenue.
Under the theme 'China: Today & Yesterday', this year's event went saw dancers dressed as lions, acrobats and floats then parade from Shaftesbury Avenue to Trafalgar Square and a speech by London Mayor Sadiq Khan.
One London resident of Chinese origin, Kun Fu, said she was happy that Lunar New Year had become an international festival.
"It is a Chinese thing, but now it has definitely become a festival of all the people around the world," she said.
"London is an international city so to celebrate the Chinese new year here feels really different becuase the Chinese people here are from Hong Kong, Taiwan, from all over the place so the traditions are all a bit different, which makes it really special," said bank worker Chris Chan.
Traditional Chinese hand-crafted floats drifted through the streets along with a menagerie of costumes: dancing dragons, lions and a giant rooster, followed by London's iconic red buses in a convergence of eastern and western culture.
The thanksgiving ceremony in Trafalgar Square was followed by the Lions' Eye-Dotting, the Flying Lion Dance and a speech by Khan, in which he talked about immigration and thanked the members of Chinese community for their contribution to the city of London.
According to the organisers, the annual London parade is the biggest Chinese New Year celebration outside of Asia. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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