Lunar New Year 2025

01 Feb 2025 - 03 Feb 2025

Liverpool

Liverpool is set to welcome the Lunar New Year in ssstyle, with a series of vibrant events and activities taking place to mark the Year of the Snake.

The main Chinese New Year city centre celebrations will be held on Sunday 2 February in and around Europe’s oldest Chinatown.

The festivities will feature the traditional dragon, lion, unicorn parades, firecracker displays, family workshops, Tai Chi demonstrations, live music, street theatre and stage performances, a fairground and food and craft stalls. Plus this year there will be a special finale, courtesy of performers Bring the Fire.

Taking place from 11am to 5pm, the special event will also commemorate the 25th anniversary of the iconic Chinese Arch gifted to the city in 2000.

In the run up to the main celebrations, from next week (20 January) thousands of red lanterns will begin to adorn the city centre streets around Chinatown, Liverpool ONE and Royal Albert Dock Liverpool from the beginning of February, and a number of buildings, including Liverpool Town Hall and St George’s Hall, will be illuminated in red in honour of the new year.

On Saturday 25 January the Liverpool Hung Gar Kung Fu Friendship Association, Pagoda Arts and award-winning dance company Movema will lead a parade through the city centre, joined by members of the Chinese community and young people from In Harmony and the Shanghai Children’s Palace Orchestras. Incorporating a street theatre piece with colourful Beijing opera-style costumes and stilt walkers, the parade will start at midday on Church Street, leading on to Paradise Street in Liverpool ONE before heading to the Royal Albert Dock Liverpool.

Expect to see a stunning willow snake sculpture placed in the water feature near the Liverpool sign, commissioned by Liverpool ONE and created by artist Sarah Gallagher from Twigtwisters. The sign will also be decorated to mark the occasion and both will be on display from the end of January.

A small number of family-friendly activity workshops and craft stalls will take place in Chinatown on Saturday 1 February. This programme will offer a quieter alternative to Sunday’s proceedings, without firecrackers and loud music performances, ensuring everyone can join in the fun.

Projections inspired by Chinese mythology and Liverpool’s cultural heritage will take over the Bombed Out Church (St Luke’s) on the evening of 1 and 2 February from 5.30-9pm. The work has been created by immersive projection experts Focal Studios in collaboration with Pagoda Arts and the local community. There will also be a number of family activities across the weekend at the location, as well as a vibrant wildflower art installation, created by volunteers and school children using upcycled plastic bottles.