CityLife

Must see: Chinese New Year 2010

The parade begins at 11am on February 14

Anyone who enjoys counting in Big Ben’s bongs at New Year knows that one celebration every 12 months just isn’t enough.

Chinese New Year – which this year coincides with Valentine’s Day – is a welcome chance for a second round of seasonal festivities, then. But the free event has also become a moment when the city’s diverse communities congregate in Manchester to immerse themselves in cultures old and new.

Across two days, China Town comes to life with performances, processions and parades centred around the Town’s famous arch, with stalls, demonstrations and music throughout the weekend.

This year, China is celebrating the year of the Tiger – the third of 12 animals in the Chinese zodiac. The tiger represents bravery and is thought to ward off danger from households – specifically, risk of fire, theft or hauntings.

Over in China Town on Sunday, the schedule will be familiar to anyone who regularly joins in with the festivities and a real spectacle for anyone new to the event. There’s the usual 175ft-long dragon parade through the city centre from Albert Square to China Town (this alone attracts about 5,000 spectators), where the Shaolin monks, folk dancers and Kung Fu experts take over with a continuous cycle of demonstrations on the main stage.

Fireworks display

There are acrobatic troupes and children’s workshops lined up for day one (starting at 11am), the Money God will be walking around handing out his lucky red packets to fortunate strangers, and there are hundreds of street stalls selling food, drink, clothing, crafts and jewellery around the square.

In 2010, the celebrations spill out into nearby galleries – Manchester Art Gallery, for example, is hosting a drop in day from 11am to 4pm – and many of the city’s boroughs are hosting similar, small-scale parties of their own, including Stockport and Trafford (the Trafford Centre hosts a day of events in The Orient tomorrow).

At 6pm, the giant fireworks display begins, welcoming in the new year with a big bang before the banqueting starts in China Town’s restaurants on Monday.

Anyone looking for a more unusual way to immerse themselves in the New Year celebrations, though, might want to try
The Lowry Outlet Mall’s Tiger Lucky Eight, which brings the Luxor art collective to the venue for a night of alternative music, dance and art.

A collaboration headlined by producer William Orbit, ballet dancer Anna-Mi Fredriksson and performance artist Pauline Amos, Luxor improvises to create unique sounds, choreography and paintings based on an element of the Chinese zodiac – and for Manchester, that’s earth.

Free. February 14 (11am-7pm) and 15, 2010. Other events do charge – check with organisers for times and prices. Luxor: Lowry (Outlet Mall), February 13 (6pm-8pm), 2010. Free.