Events - Chinese New Year

Happy New Year - sun nin fy lok!

Chinese New Year is the biggest festival of the year in Chinese communities. Based on the lunar and solar calendars, the date varies from late January to mid-February. As Chinese communities across England celebrate, there will be numerous organised events taking place.

China Now! - UK’s largest ever festival of Chinese culture

August 2008 - Across England

CHINA NOW aims to advance the public’s understanding of China and forge strong relationships between artists, cultural leaders, schools, businesses and communities between the two countries. A full list of our 800 events can be found here: www.chinanow.org.uk/events

Chinese New Year – Coalport China Museum

2-3 February - Shropshire

Celebrate the Year of the Rat which stands for cleverness, energy and good humour with traditional festivities, special performance s of the Lion Dance, which brings good fortune for the new year, folk dancing, T’ai Chi, ceramic workshops exploring Chinese writing and design. Additionally, this year being the 2008 China Olympics, the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust is working closely with local Chinese community, the biggest minority group in Shropshire. A range of activities and workshops will be held throughout the year especially highlighting its collection of Caughley porcelain and the ‘Chinese Whispers’ exhibit, which explores the influence of China on the British porcelain industry. Visit www.virtual-shropshire.co.uk for more information

Chinese New Year

9 and 17 February - Chatham, Medway

Chatham will host an extravagant and colourful procession with dragons, Chinese lions and street entertainment, and has emerged from a small Chinese community event into the third largest celebration of its kind in the United Kingdom, involving the whole Medway community in a grand street parade with dragons, lions and more than 250 people, in costumes especially imported from China. The celebrations take place in Chatham town centre. Contact 01634 843666 for more information or visit  www.medway.gov.uk/tourism

Chinese New Year

10 February 2008 - London

With the largest New Year celebration outside of Asia last year, London’s Chinese community is expecting to top even that with 300,000 people expected in central London to kick off the Chinese New Year of the Rat. Festivities include The Great Parade, the Dragon Dance, Lucky Lions, the Beijing Dance, Drama and Opera House at Trafalgar Square with Tail Feathers Dance, Fireworks in Leicester Square and more. www.chinanow.org.uk, www.london.gov.uk/, www.london.gov.uk/mayor/chinese_ny/index.jsp or  www.chineseculturalcentre.org.uk for more information.

Chinese New Year

10 February 2008 - Manchester

Manchester has one of the largest Chinese communities in the UK, and each year it celebrates Chinese New Year with a colourful parade around Albert Square and Faulkner Street. Visitors can expect traditional dragon dances, a fireworks display, marshal arts exhibitions and plenty of stalls and workshops. The family-friendly event then makes its way to nearby Chinatown, where many of the restaurants offer special New Year menus. www.visitmanchester.com

Chinese New Year - Imperial Arch

10 February 2008 - Liverpool

Liverpool is home to one of the oldest Chinese communities in Europe, and Chinese New Year is celebrated at the Chinese Arch on Nelson Street.  Prepare to be mesmerised by dancing dragons, unicorns and lions, special firecracker performances and Tai Chi demonstrations and enjoy Chinese food and traditional New Year's delicacies. Liverpool's Imperial Arch is the largest outside of China. Standing 15 meters or some 50 feet tall and spanning Nelson Street, it has to rank as one of the most spectacular sites in Liverpool with its 200 dragons, five roofs and sheer complexity. www.visitliverpool.com

Chinoiserie

19 January–06 April 2008 - The Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, County Durham

The Bowes Museum at Barnard Castle has a display of ceramics celebrating the influence of Chinese design, including the famous ‘willow pattern’, to acknowledge the year of the Beijing Olympics. Visit www.thebowesmuseum.org.uk for more information.

Exhibition of Chinese Culture

Until 24 February 2008 - University Of Oxford

The Ashmolean presents a rare opportunity to explore the momentous changes in the People’s Republic of China over the past half century. The exhibition showcases the newly formed collection of late twentieth century and contemporary Chinese prints, acquired to complement the Museum’s substantial and renowned holding of Chinese paintings of the same period. www.ashmolean.org for more details.

The First Emperor – China’s Terracotta Army

Until April 6th - British Museum, London

This once-in-a-lifetime exhibition explores one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of the 20th century and provides an insight into China’s First Emperor, Qin Shihuangdi, and his legacy.

Objects featured in the exhibition include a number of the world-famous terracotta warriors from Xi’an, China, which were buried alongside the First Emperor in readiness for the afterlife, as well as some of the most striking recent discoveries made on the site. In introducing the idea of a unified state and effectively creating China in 221 BC, the First Emperor of Qin created what is today the oldest surviving political entity in the world. How that state has survived, developed and is viewed today is explored through events, lectures and debates around the exhibition. www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk

Beijing 2008 Olympic Torch Relay

6 April 2008 - London

London will welcome the Olympic Flame on Sunday 6th April 2008, as part of the global Olympic Torch Relay in the run up to the Beijing Olympic Games. Visit www.visitlondon.com for more information.

The Museum of East Asian Art

Year-long - Bath

Picturing China 1870 – 1950 runs from  3 January – 13 April 2008 and is a photographic glimpse at the history of China, showcasing images from British collections depicting China before 1950. From 3 January -13 April 2008 is SHEN: Chinese Icons of Divinity, an exhibition which looks at a variety of deities found in Chinese temples. www.meaa.org.uk/

China 08

March–October 2008 - National Railway Museum, York

The National Railway Museum in York is celebrating China 2008 from March to September in celebration of Chinese links, from a photography exhibition called The Last Days of Stream (19 March – October)  to a Chinese Festival celebrating Chinese culture past and present (21 March – 6 April), an online exhibition A Modern View of China Railyways today (August – December) in addition to special learning activities taking place at the museum from April to September. Visit www.nrm.org.uk for more information on all China 08 related events.