Chinese New Year in London

By a New Worker correspondent

Londoners watch lion dancing during the celebration of the Chinese Lunar New Year in Trafalgar Square last weekend. Thousands of people took part in the Grand Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations held in Trafalgar Square, Leicester Square and Chinatown in London to mark the Year of the Tiger, which began on 14th February.
The London celebration was the largest outside China and last Sunday Soho’s Chinatown was bedecked with lanterns and decorations and packed with stalls while Chinese dancers and acrobats entertained the crowds throughout the day which ended with fireworks in Leicester Square.
Leslie Ng, the president of the London Chinatown Chinese Association, said: "Hundreds of thousands of people enjoy London's Chinese New Year celebrations, which have become a real highlight in the capital's calendar of events.
"It's an opportunity to celebrate and experience Chinese culture, and to see what Chinatown offers - not just during Chinese New Year, but all year round."
And in the capital an exhibition at one library has visitors clawing at the bookshelves. It's been set up to recognise the Year of the Tiger, and management hopes it'll have readers roaring for more.The week-long exhibition offers the latest in Chinese books for loan and sale.
An opening ceremony was held on Friday 19th February with representatives from the Chinese embassy and officials from Westminster council.They want it to act as a cultural bridge for British people to learn about China and also to generate more interest in books and the library. Westminster's Chinese library is in Charing Cross Road on the edge of Chinatown and it has one of the largest collections of Chinese materials in the UK's public libraries.