Chinese New Year was celebrated with a dragon, pandas and more, in Chinatown earlier this evening.
2900 plus oriental performers from China, Korea, Vietnam and, Sydney participated in the evening parade to welcome the Year of the Dragon.
A massive dragon headed up a parade of dancers, acrobats and fire breathing types from Sydney Town Hall to downtown Chinatown to wish Sydney a Happy Lunar New Year.
For many the float of 20 pandas on unicycles was their favourite part of the night. The panda performers hailed from the National Song and Dance Theatre Company from Chengdu, China.
The freakish sized panda is China's rarest national treasure. Panda follows estimate that only 1500 still inhabit the planet, with 80 per cent of these in the Chengdu region - in the Sichuan province in China's south-west.
“Giant pandas are loved the world over. This puppet performance will thrill the tens of thousands of people who line Sydney's streets for our fabulous parade,” lord mayor Clover Moore said.
Light projections along the parade route helped transform the city into a mini-Hong Kong.
The parade commenced at 8pm finished off at Darling Harbour with a fireworks show.
May the power of the dragon and panda be with you.
Websites
Sydney Chinese New Year Festival
City of Sydney official website
Eva Rinaldi Photography Flickr
Eva Rinaldi Photography
Music News Australia
