Dragon tales around the world

With the approaching of Chinese Spring Festival, various celebrations have kicked off across the world.

China Town in London has put on a new look with red lanterns and colorful flags lining the whole block.

Deng Zhuting, president of London Chinatown Chinese Association, said it was the fourth time his group has held grand celebrations for Chinese lunar New Year. Deng will arrange a parade, which follows a route double the distance of last year's. Costumed performers will twirl and leap from the Strand through Charing Cross and Shaftesbury Avenue.

On Sunday, a huge ceremony will be held in Trafalgar Square, with a traditional Thanksgiving to the Gods ceremony. Dancing lions and dragons are brought to life and the square is filled with the colorful creatures dancing to the rhythm of the beating drums and gongs.

The association is also organizing the China Town Art Festival, which will begin tomorrow in the Royal Opera House London. The performances will focus on Asian dance, drama and music.

Between February 16 and 18, the festival will feature Miao minority dance by Taiwan folk dance theaters; Peking Opera by London Jing Kun Opera Association; and Metempsychosis, a drama about Chinese philosophy brought by Chinese, Japanese and Korean artists in UK.

In South Africa, the biggest gathering of overseas Chinese is taking place in Johannesburg. Organized by the China embassy and Southern Africa Canton, HK & Macao Commercial Liaison Association, the embassy officials will sing and dance on stage.

Kung fu performed by South Africa International Martial Arts Training Center attracted the locals during the opening ceremony and Chinese food was popular among locals.

Running until the Chinese Lantern Festival (March 4), the temple fair will climax on the lunar New Year day, with traditional Chinese Dragon Dancing, Lion Dancing and the performance of Nanjing Xiao Hong Hua Children's Art Troupe from East China's Jiangsu Province.

A unique Spring Festival celebration will be held in New York. A big ice pig, made of 1,600 blocks of ice, will be paraded this weekend to welcome the Year of the Pig on Chinese calendar. Chinese puppets as high as half a meter will step down from the stage to walk the streets.

Chinese like to set off fireworks to scare away bad luck, and a grand fireworks show will be held on Sunday. For half an hour, hundreds of big sparkling fireworks will turn the sky of New York into a wonderland.

The Asian American Arts Center will hold the Lunar New Year Folk Arts Festival featuring Chinese and Indian folk arts. Dough figurine artists, calligraphers and Tibetan folk singers will interact with the audiences and the visitors can also taste Chinese local food.

Tomorrow and the day after, the American Chinese Museum will hold the annual Spring Festival flower market in Columbus Park, with Chinese magic and calligraphy show performed.

(China Daily 02/15/2007 page20)