Hamilton Lantern Festival lights up culture

L-R: BNZ migrant banking advisor Zhenyu Sun, Chinese Consul-General Qingbao Niu, Hamilton Mayor Julie Hardaker, and Bridge Media director Jianping Li at the Lantern Festival in Hamilton.

The Chinese New Year was celebrated last Saturday with the annual Chinese Lantern Festival in Garden Place.

Part of the Summer in Garden Place programme, the Chinese Lantern Festival brought Chinese food, entertainment and a light display into the centre of the city. The festival coincided with the start of the Chinese Year of the Horse.

Festival co-organiser Xi Zhu said the festival was one of the biggest celebrations of the year for Chinese communities worldwide, as it comes within a few weeks of the Chinese New Year celebrations in mid-January.

Image 1 of 4: Hamilton's first Chinese councillor Phillip Yeung addresses the crowd.

"It's also the first night of the Chinese New Year to see a full moon," Mr Zhu says. "On the night, people get together to celebrate the beginning of the (Chinese) spring - with lanterns, fireworks and yuan xiao, a kind of sweet stuffed dumpling served in soup."

This year's Chinese Lantern Festival included a display of kung fu - the ancient Chinese martial art - two Chinese dance performances and other traditional Chinese music recitals.

Garden Place adviser Shannon Kelly said the Chinese Lantern Festival was one of the big events for Summer in Garden Place.

In previous years the event has drawn more than 1500 people to Garden Place. With a glorious summer evening, it's estimated the number of people who attended was well up on last year.