Sydney set to host one of biggest Lunar New Year celebration

SYDNEY, Nov. 7 (Xinhua) -- Australia's Sydney is set to host one of the biggest celebrations of the 2017 Lunar New Year Festival outside of Asia with more than a million visitors set to enjoy the sights, sounds and tastes of the celebration.

City of Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore in a statement on Monday said the Sydney Chinese New Year Festival Celebration to be held from January 27 to February 12 will be an internationally renowned celebration among the Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai and Korean communities.

"From its humble beginnings in Chinatown, the festival now extends all the way to Sydney Harbour and last year attracted 1.3 million people, making it the third largest annual event in Sydney," Moore said.

"Featuring the Lunar Lanterns and 80 traditional and contemporary events across Sydney, the 2017 Lunar New Year celebrations has something for everyone," he said.

Among them will be the Lunar Lanterns trail around Circular Quay from the Sydney Opera House to Dawes Point.

Twelve spectacular zodiac animal lanterns designed by Australian Chinese artists and varying in size up to 10 meters high will line the foreshore for the entire 17-day festival.

Festival curator, Claudia Chan Shaw said the Lunar Lanterns walk will create a vibrant precinct around the Sydney harbour for visitors and families to explore.

"Following the enormous success of last year's inaugural Lunar Lanterns exhibition, in 2017 we will introduce several new lanterns that will amaze and delight visitors," Shaw said.

"And being the year of the Rooster, an animal that loves being the centre of attention there will be two hero Rooster lanterns, one at the Sydney Opera House and the other in the festival's cultural heart in Chinatown," she said.

She said the city will collaborate with principal partner Westpac in lighting Sydney's most famous landmarks in auspicious red for three nights to welcome the Year of the Rooster from January 27 to 29.

Painting the town red will highlight the sails of the Sydney Opera House, the Sydney Harbour Bridge, Circular Quay Station, Sydney Town Hall and other Sydney landmarks.

Westpac's General Manager for Retail and Premium Bank Bernadette Inglis said the bank recognised the incredible contribution the Chinese community makes to Australia and is excited to partner with the City of Sydney for the second year in a row to celebrate the Lunar New Year.

"The Chinese community remains one of Westpac's largest multicultural audiences," Inglis said.

"We are looking forward to seeing iconic Sydney landmarks lit up in red," she said.

More than 1,000 performers from the Chinese, Korean, Thai, Vietnamese and Japanese communities across Sydney will bring the city's streets to life with hip hop, children's performances, folk dance, martial arts, kung fu and traditional dance performances.

Meanwhile, Pyrmont Bay Park will be transformed into a pop-up food festival filled with Asian cuisine, live entertainment and culture.

The final weekend of the festival which falls on Feb 11 and 12 will feature the excitement and thrill of the Dragon Boat races where 3000 paddlers will converge on Darling Harbour for the largest Dragon Boat regatta in the Southern Hemisphere.