The Chinese New Year Parade held in Eastbourne, UK

[European Times] The 2019 Chinese New Year Parade will be held on February 17 in Eastbourne, Eastbourne, UK. The event attracted the participation of tens of thousands of local residents and tourists, and became a beautiful landscape for celebrating the Chinese New Year in southern England.

This event was co-organized by the Eastbourne Chinese Association and the Eastbourne City Enterprise Chamber of Commerce, Eastbourne Mayor Jill Matoke, East Sussex Queen’s Representative Peter Field, China Many guests, including the Chinese Embassy Counsellor Lu Haitian and Consul Gao Yan, and local British residents gathered in Eastbourne to celebrate the Chinese New Year of the Pig.

guests and participants took a group photo. (Photo source: Li Li)

The ancient Eastbourne seaside residents participated in the Chinese New Year celebration for the first time. This event brought together more than 50 dragon, lion and flower drums from London, Scotland, Kent and local Waiting for the parade, in the course of the nearly two-hour parade, the mighty team set off from the downtown square, crossed the crowded Terminus Avenue, and reached the spectacular Eastbourne Beach Pier. In the midday sun, the colorful parade enthusiastically interacted with tens of thousands of citizens and tourists in the streets and lanes. The flags, the lions and dragons, the applause thunderous, and the climax piled up. This is known as the sunniest place in the south of England. The wave of Chinese New Year celebrations. The biggest feature of

's parade is the extensive and in-depth participation of local British residents in the activities of the Chinese community. There are nearly 20 local school students in the parade. They hold various Chinese dragons of different sizes, forming an unprecedented local residents Celebrate traditional Chinese festivals with the Chinese. After the

parade, the guests came to the famous Royal Arena Theatre in Eastbourne to continue their celebration. Zeng Jiawen, President of the All-British Chinese Federation and President of the Eastbourne Chinese Association, said in a speech that as a local Chinese community association, it is necessary to promote the diversity of community culture by promoting traditional Chinese culture, and to enhance China and the United Kingdom. Friendship between people.

The Queen’s representative of East Sussex, Peter Field, expressed her holiday congratulations on behalf of the Queen to all those who participated in the event. He said that in today’s smaller and smaller world, ethnic groups from different cultures form a big family.

Lu Haitian, Counselor of the Chinese Embassy in the UK, said in his speech: “Eastbourne’s New Year Parade is unique because of the participation of so many local British students. The success of the festival is the vibrant Eastbourne Chinese Association. The result of years of unremitting efforts to promote Chinese culture is also a concrete manifestation of the golden age of China-UK cooperation." On behalf of the Chinese Embassy, ​​he spoke to the Steuben Chinese Association and various local people in this Sino-English exchange event. Thank you for your support.

Eastbourne Mayor Jill Matock, Congressman Stephen Lloyd, Eastbourne City Chamber of Commerce President Richard Grande and Eastbourne Chinese Association Honorary Chairman Grae Important guests such as M. Bloom also gave high praise and warm congratulations to the Chinese community for holding such a grand event in the local area for the first time, and each of their concluding words was a very popular Chinese greeting in the UK today "Gong Xi Fa Cai "And "Happy Chinese New Year".

On the same day, the Eastbourne Chinese Association also presented to the Queen of England through Peter Field a Chinese painting of the Chinese national flower peony, which symbolizes prosperity and wealth.

Afterwards, nearly a thousand Chinese and foreign guests enjoyed the wonderful performances by overseas Chinese associations, Chinese schools and Chinese artists. The enthusiastic waist drum full of strong northwestern Chinese charm, the folk dance that expresses the flying image of Dunhuang, the traditional Chinese martial arts kung fu and the affectionate erhu performance, fully demonstrate the auspicious beauty and affinity of Chinese culture. At the end of the

celebration, it was already the beginning of the lights. A white-haired old man in the area said that this is truly an unparalleled day in Eastbourne. He hoped that the friendship between China and Britain and the two peoples will get better and better in 2019, and wish China Both Britain can have a prosperous and beautiful tomorrow.

(Editor: Qiu Yi)