UK’s 'brightest' Chinese New Year celebrations are set to return to Manchester including legendary dragon parade

Thousands of red lanterns, live performances, food stalls and a dragon parade are just some of the ways Manchester will mark Chinese New Year in 2024. The annual event will return to the city in February, welcoming in the Year of the Dragon.

Taking place over the weekend of 10-11 February, the colourful celebrations mark the start of the new year - which falls on Saturday 10th - on the traditional lunar calendar. A packed programme of events will take place on including Manchester's legendary Dragon Parade, which came back last year for the first time since the pandemic.

This year’s celebrations, organised by the Federation of Chinese Associations of Manchester (FCAM) in partnership with Manchester Business Improvement District and Manchester City Council, will also see the return of Manchester’s famous, traditional red lanterns, ready to brighten the city’s streets in the run-up to Chinese New Year.

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The Chinese New Year is also known as the Spring Festival and has been celebrated in China for thousands of years, with various forms of activities across the different regions of China. Traditionally, the New Year event is centred around removing the bad and the old, and welcoming the new and the good.

Also celebrated by Chinese communities outside the country, events and celebrations like lion dances, dragon dances and flower markets are just some of the ways it is celebrated.

Dragons are a symbol of good luck, health and strength in Chinese culture, and dragon dances are