London marks Chinese New Year with biggest party outside Asia

( chinadaily.com.cn ) Updated: 2016-02-15 21:16

Children join a parade to celebrate Chinese Lunar New Year in central London, Feb 14, 2016. [Photo/chinadaily.com.cn]

Londoners enjoyed a massive Chinese New Year party on Sunday, as the city center filled with music, acrobatics, martial arts and Chinese traditional craft stalls.

The celebration kicked off at 10am with a grand parade through the West End, featuring dancing lions and dragons, colorful floats and various Chinese cultural demonstrations. The event, attended by some 700,000 people, is the largest celebration outside Asia for Chinese New Year, which fell on Feb 8 this year.

As 2016 is the Year of the Monkey, the parade was presided over by the Monkey King and Chinese God of Wealth. The spectacle, starting from Trafalgar Square and ending in the heart of Chinatown, drew thousands of people lining the route.

Celebrations at the square continued with firecrackers at midday, which were followed by a flying lion and dragon dance to bring good luck and ward off evil spirits.