Chinese New Year lights up Auckland

Auckland City Council will help the Chinese New Year go off with a bang with a series of events starting on 16 February.

This year is the Year of the Pig in the Chinese zodiac. The celebrations culminate in the Auckland Lantern Festival which runs from 2 to 4 March in Albert Park.

The free festival has become an iconic celebration in Auckland’s events calendar with thousands of people of all nationalities coming together to enjoy the stalls and performances.

The lantern festival celebrates Auckland’s ethnic diversity and gives residents and visitors the opportunity to learn more about the city’s Chinese residents.

In preparation for the festival, hundreds of Chinese lanterns will line Queen Street from 18 February.

Auckland Art Gallery’s main gallery will also be open until 10pm from 2 to 4 March to celebrate the lantern festival, and there will be fun, creative activities for kids from 5pm to 8pm each night.

On 18 February, Auckland City Council is supporting the 2007 Spring Festival Concert in the Auckland Town Hall to welcome in the Chinese New Year. The east-meets-west concert features one of China’s distinguished young conductors, Li Xin Cao, with the Auckland Philharmonia, and singers from the China National Opera. A traditional lion dance precedes the concert at 7pm.

The Central City Library joins in the festivities with opening hours extended to 10pm on 2 and 3 March, and a colourful display of homemade lanterns that will be strung up throughout the library.

There’s something for the whole family to enjoy at Auckland City Libraries from cooking demonstrations, classical music performances, and even lion dances.

They will also be running their popular library tours in both Chinese and English and St Heliers library has a feng shui expert on hand with some great tips to bring harmony to your environment.

For children, Epsom Community Library presents a fun fashion show while Remuera Community Library will run lantern-making lessons. Most libraries will also be holding Chinese themed storytimes in either Mandarin or Cantonese.

ENDS

Note to editors
Auckland City Libraries also offers extensive Chinese resources and collections from newspapers, books and magazines to history and music. The Dragonsource eResource in the online Digital Library also provides access to popular Chinese magazines on a wide variety of topics.

The Auckland Research Centre at the Central City Library also holds books on both Chinese settlement history and Chinese genealogy.

Events in February and March

16 February, performances by the Panmure Chinese Association, calligraphy demonstrations and a mini festival

Panmure Community Library, 7-13 Pilkington Road, Panmure
3.30pm

17 February, Chinese storytime, Chinese Women's Mandarin Choir, keyboard performance, Chinese Fan Dance, Tai Chi Demonstration and Chinese Senior Citizen's dance.

Onehunga Community Library, 85 Church Street, Onehunga
10.30am - 12pm

17 February, Chinese cooking with Doreen Lim-Tan

Avondale Community Library, 93 Rosebank Road, Avondale
11am

18 February, 2007 Spring Festival Concert at Auckland Town Hall

18 February, Bilingual Chinese New Year storytime

Central City Library, 44-46 Lorne Street, City
12.30pm

18 February, Chinese lanterns displayed in Queen St.

18 February, music, dance and Tai Chi performances by the Central Auckland Chinese Association, a cooking demonstration by Ping Chen, Lion Dance (Hwa Hsiu Society)

Mt Albert Community Library, 84 St Lukes Road, Mt Albert
1pm

24 February, Lion Dance (Hwa Hsiu Society), Chinese “good luck knotting” demonstration, Chinese art display by Jimmy Guo, Chinese storytimes

Avondale Community Library, 93 Rosebank Road, Avondale
Time TBC

24 February, Lion dance and Children's fan dance by Hwa Hsia Society, Traditional Chinese instruments and songs, Mengmeng Zhang and Maggie Ding performing traditional Chinese Songs, traditional music by Yu Yao and Rui Deng, and a folktale in both Mandarin and English.

Mt Roskill Community Library, 546 Mt Roskill Road, Mt Roskill
10.30am

24 February, Chinese storytime and dance and cooking demonstration.

Remuera Community Library, 429 Remuera Road, Remuera
11am

24 February, Peter Low and the E-Pac Lion Dance Team, Feng Shui author talk by Honey Lim

St Heliers Community Library, 32 St Heliers Bay, St Heliers
10am

28 February, Lantern making for children

429 Remuera Road, Remuera
3.30pm

2 – 4 March, Auckland Lantern Festival

Albert Park, central city

5pm-10.30pm daily

2 – 4 March, Auckland Art Gallery kids activities

Corner Wellesley & Kitchener Streets
5pm to 8pm each night.

3 & 4 March, Chinese cooking classes

Central City Library, 44-46 Lorne Street, City
Time 5.30pm

3 & 4 March, Bilingual storytime in Mandarin and English

Central City Library, 44-46 Lorne Street, City
Time 5.30pm

3 & 4 March, Family tours in Chinese

Central City Library, 44-46 Lorne Street, City
In Mandarin 4pm-6pm; In Cantonese 5pm and 7pm

3 & 4 March, Dragonsource database workshops in Mandarin

Central City Library, 44-46 Lorne Street, City
4.30pm and 6.30pm

3 March, Children’s Cantonese singing group, children’s fashion show, Hwa Hsia Society performances, traditional music and more

Epsom Community Library, 195 Manukau Road, Epsom
10.30am

For more information on Auckland City Libraries events, please go to www.aucklandcitylibraries.com.