Liverpool celebrates its best Chinese New Year to date

Families, friends, lions, unicorns and dragons lined the streets of Liverpool to celebrate the Year of The Dog.

As the home of Europe’s oldest Chinese community, Liverpool always goes all out to celebrate Chinese New Year, and the start of the ‘China Dream’ cultural experience brought not only parades, artwork, crafts and story telling but also a a spell-binding light show, traditional dancing and fireworks that were heard for miles.

Chinese New Year

The city was dressed in red in preparation for the jam-packed weekend of festivities which kicked off on Friday 16th February 2018, a week after the official launch of China’s First Emperor and the Terracotta Warriors exhibition at World Museum. Beautiful red lanterns swayed from the Berry Street lampposts and were strung all along Nelson Street and beyond our beautiful Imperial Arch, ready to welcome thousands of families, friends and tourists as the weekends activities got under way.

Despite the cold weather and rain, we turned out in droves to watch the dragons, lions and unicorns dance to Great George Square where firecrackers, dancing and music entertained the masses. Twinned with Shanghai, Liverpool is famed for it’s warm welcome and seeing first-hand how our communities come together to embrace Chinese culture and join in the celebrations, just goes to show our unity.

Chinese New Year

At 6:30pm we all flocked to the Imperial Gate once more as the final showing of Jingwei’s Legacy illuminated the Chinese Gate, Black E and The Arch Building. The projected story focuses on cultural diversity and the hope that communities can live together harmoniously regardless of their backgrounds or beliefs, and it received a huge round of applause from young and old, before a brilliant firework display brought a weekend of fun, food, culture and celebrations to an end.

Chinese New Year actually lasts until late February 2018 and there’s no better time to visit Chinatown and explore the myriad of shops, restaurants, markets and community groups that make us such an important part of our city.

Chinese New Year

There is still lots to come in the China Dream cultural experience including contemporary art, music and a very special moon festival. Click here to find out more. If you want to carry on the celebrations, why not treat yourself to the very best Chinese cuisine from Liverpool’s top restaurants and take aways, click here to order your banquet and celebrate the Year of the Dog.