Prince George, B.C. – The Chinese community in Prince George is busy readying itself for New Year celebrations. Chinese New Year starts on January 23^rd this year. It’s the first of 15 days of celebration and the start of the Year of the Dragon. 

The colourfully-woven ethnic mosaic that is Canada comes to the forefront throughout the Christmas-New Year holidays. The world brings in the new year, of course, on January 1^{st,  b}ut the event is also marked on other dates by the various ethnic communities. 

 

Last weekend the local Ukranian-Canadian population brought in its New Year with the jam-packed annual Malanka festivities at the Hart Community Centre. Now Chinese-Canadians prepare to celebrate with plenty of activites planned in our city. 

 

CNC’s international students are celebrating the Year of the Dragon, symbolizing power, luck, glory and respect, at their Lunar New Year gala this Friday night at the China Sail restaurant.   The event begins at 5pm and includes dinner and a colourful lion dance performance. Tickets are $15.

 

Tracy Calogheros at The Exploration Place says their annual event marking the Chinese New Year will be held the following weekend, on the 28^th. A huge public fireworks display, sponsored by Northland Dodge, at Fort George Park begins at 6 o’clock that night, planned really early in the evening to allow the kids to see what Tracy calls “a very big fireworks show.” After that things move indoors at The Exploration Place for a dinner and dance and a fundraiser for the organization’s Child Care programs. Problem for latecomers is that the event was sold out before Christmas. They had tried to get the lion dancers to perform there, but they’ve again been booked at the China Sail that evening. Proprietor Hermie Chan says the lion dancers will be performing at 6pm on the 28^th as the restaurant welcomes in the New Year. Many seats are already spoken for but she is still taking reservations at 250-564-2828. By the way there’s no admission charge that evening. So, Gung Hey Fat Choy, eh!