Chinese New Year in Perth

Perth is the beautiful capital of Western Australia. Boasting of sandy beaches, Kings’ Park; Perth is where the Swan River meets the southwest coast.

It is a melting pot of different races and creeds and amongst them one of the major number of people residing there are Chinese expatriates. Chinese in Western Australia numbers up to 140,000.

Thus it is of little wonder that the Chinese New Year, which is also known as the spring festival and celebrated with much fanfare wherever there are people of Chinese origin; be celebrated in Perth too!

The Chinese association in Perth, the Chung Wah association was formed way back in 1909; and from then has worked tirelessly and seamlessly to take the expatriates in its fold. It is the largest and the most well known organization amongst the entire Western Australia.

The Perth Chinese New Year fair is a free, interesting annual community event providing entertainment, activities, excitement and enjoyment to people and families of all age group. It first took place in January of 2012 and drew an excited and animated crowd of more than 80,000 in the year 2019.

Celebrations galore!

This year happens to be the year of monkey according to the Chinese calendar and is one of the most important events in the Chinese calendar. Organized by the Chung Wah association the Chinese New Year may see a footfall of about sixty thousand people and more.

The aim for this gala celebration is to showcase the different and huge variety of cultural extravaganza and offer some finger licking good food. It is also the best possible way to showcase the rich cultural heritage of China and that they carry the traditional fabric when abroad too.

The Traditional Dragon Dance and the Lion Dance will be some of the main attractions of the fair ground. These traditional dances are generally performed at New Year only, so what better time to have a glimpse at them once again. And it is always an awesome sight to see the acrobatic performances. These performances will keep on happening at an interval of every half an hour.

There would be plenty of stalls put up in the James Street area, and visitors can keep browsing through them. An exciting activity area will be set up in the lake street area, where everybody from any age group can take part. Some of the interesting activities are like Clown Play port, Cups and Saucer rides, Laughing Clown Games, the Simulator rides, Pluck a Duck game etc. Nicks Lane also remains closed to set up stalls where there is a plethora of interactive things lined up for the visitors to take part in.

A street Carnival will be held in James Street, between William and Lake Street, and again in Lake street between James street and Frances Street. The Northbridge Piazza will be colorfully and gaily converted into a bustling Kida Zone and will boast of a number of superbly interesting activities for the kids. One of the main attractions is the Giant Water Slide installation which is going to make the little ones super happy! Activity stalls with tattoo, face painting, clowns, balloons and numerous other things are going to keep the children super happy.

There will be a spectacular Chinese ethnic costume parade performed by numerous of the expatriates, the melodious and rhythmic Western Australian Police Pipe Band parade and an absorbing stage show from 12 PM to 6 PM at the front yard of the Chinatown in Roe Street.  The event will lead to a fitting climax with an absolutely riveting multicultural concert from 7 PM to 9 Pm at the Northbridge Piazza.

The Chung Wah President Mr Sammy Yap very rightfully opined that these kinds of activities were a great opportunity to showcase the rich, traditional and diversified Chinese culture. For the Expatriates Chinese people, though it will not be the same as celebrating the New Year in some Asian countries, would still give them an opportunity to feel what their tradition and history is all about. Though the temperature tends to soar to a higher degree, still the prospect of a fulfilled traditional day with interactive games and traditional, colorful and spectacular dragon and lion dances saw a surge in the number of visitors. It is an absolute right approach that these traditional joys should be shared with the Perth people who are the Chinese community’s friends.