By Kim Choe
Tonight marks the eve of the Chinese New Year – the largest festival on the Chinese calendar.
It's a time for family reunions and lots of food, but over the years, as its popularity has grown in New Zealand, it has also become a window into Chinese culture.
Chinese may be preparing to welcome in the Year of the Tiger, but it was a dragon that the Prime Minister found himself having to tame.
Then the Governor General dotted its eyes with paint, to symbolise its awakening – the dragon dance brings good luck and prosperity for the year to come.
It's a central part of the New Year festival, the most important holiday in the Chinese calendar.
“Well it's a big day,” says Arthur Loo of the Auckland Chinese Community Centre. “I mean it's a bit like Christmas and New Year combined for westerners. So it's a time for reunion and time for family.”
Compared to a few decades ago Chinese New Year festivities are now commonplace in New Zealand.
“Thirty, forty years ago it was really on the local Chinese community that was interested and we only numbered a few thousand in those days,” says Mr Loo.
“Now we're well over a hundred thousand, and so the crowd that we get through the gates is just incredible. We're expecting maybe 15, 20,000 today.”
Its significance isn't lost on the Prime Minister, either.
“Our links with China are very large now,” he says.
“Two-way trade between New Zealand and China is $10 billion; part of the reason for that and the exponential growth has been the Chinese New Zealanders who've made their home here, they have the people-to-people links.”
It's expected that by 2026 there will be almost as many Asians living in New Zealand as Maori.
As the population increases, so too will the popularity of festivals like Chinese New Year.
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