Liverpool is preparing to celebrate the Lunar New Year and welcome the Year of the Snake, with various events and activities taking place across the city. The city centre will host the main Chinese New Year celebrations, on Sunday 2 February in and around Europe’s oldest Chinatown. The festivities will feature the traditional dragon, lion, and unicorn parades, as well as firecracker displays, Tai Chi demonstrations, and live music. Visitors can also enjoy street theatre performances, family workshops, and a fairground, in addition to food and craft stalls. Bring the Fire performers will ensure there is a special finale.
To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the iconic Chinese Arch gifted to the city in 2000, the special event will run from 11 am to 5 pm. From 20 January, thousands of red lanterns will adorn the city centre streets around Chinatown, Liverpool ONE, and Royal Albert Dock Liverpool until the beginning of February. In honour of the new year, a number of buildings, including Liverpool Town Hall and St George’s Hall, will be lit up in red.
On Saturday, 25 January, the Liverpool Hung Gar Kung Fu Friendship Association, Pagoda Arts, and award-winning dance company Movema will lead a parade through the city. Incorporating a street theatre piece with colourful Beijing opera-style costumes and stilt walkers, the parade will start at midday on Church Street, leading on to paradise Street in Liverpool ONE before heading to the Royal Albert Dock Liverpool. Visitors can expect to see a stunning willow snake sculpture placed in the water feature near the Liverpool sign, while the Royal Albert Dock Liverpool’s hearts will get a Year of the Snake makeover.
The city’s Bombed Out Church will host Chinese mythology and Liverpool’s cultural heritage-inspired projections on the evening of 1 and 2 February from 5.30-9 pm, created by immersive projection experts Focal Studios in collaboration with Pagoda Arts. Volunteers and school children using upcycled plastic bottles will create a vibrant wildflower art installation at the location. The event, supported by the Liverpool City Council’s Culture Liverpool team in partnership with the Liverpool Chinese Business Association, the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, the Arts Council England and with help from Royal Albert Dock Liverpool, Liverpool ONE, and Liverpool BID Company
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