Birmingham’s Chinese Quarter will be awash with red and gold this coming Sunday as the annual Chinese New Year celebrations bounce into town to welcome in the Year of the Rabbit with an afternoon of free entertainment at the Arcadian Centre.

As we revealed last month here the Lord Mayor of Birmingham, Cllr Len Gregory, and the leader of the City Council, Cllr Mike Whitby, will mark the start of the celebration with the traditional ceremony of dotting the dragon’s eyes, followed by an dragon and lion dancing and traditional Chinese firecrackers. Dragon dances, acrobatics, kung fu and karaoke are just some of the cultural entertainment that will be on offer between 12 noon and 4.30pm when the afternoon will finish with afirework display.

In addition to performances within the Arcadian Centre, there will also be market stalls, food and children’s rides in Hurst Street, which will be closed to traffic from 7am to 7pm.  For the first time there will also be a screen enabling visitors to follow the action on stage while visiting the stalls.

Cllr Martin Mullaney, Cabinet Member for Leisure, Sport & Culture says, “This will be a fantastic afternoon with some spectacular free entertainment on offer.  Community events like this show how culturally diverse Birmingham is and we invite people of all ages and backgrounds to come together and celebrate the Chinese New Year.”

The New Year is the longest festival in the Chinese calendar, and is celebrated on the first new moon of the year. People traditionally prepare by cleaning the house from top to bottom to sweep away bad luck from the previous year – cleaning after New Year’s Eve is seen as very unlucky.  On New Year’s Day itself, red is often worn to ward off evil, and children can look forward to lucky red envelopes containing money.

The celebrations are organised by the Birmingham Chinese Festival Committee with support from Birmingham City Council and other partners and sponsors.

For the full programme visit www.cnybirmingham.org.uk or call 0121 303 3008.

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