Su San Yip
4th February 2002

Chinese New Year is an annual festival that is publicly celebrated by many Chinese people in events around the UK. Many people from the wider British community come to celebrate with us, and witness the events on that day. This can often be their sole experience into the character and traditions of the Chinese community.

As a child, our parents took my siblings and me to London Chinatown to celebrate the Chinese New Year. We enjoyed the plethora of colour and excitement, the intricate lion dances and the noise of the firecrackers. There were stalls selling food and gifts and sometimes a stage show. These were all fun for us when we were little.

As I grew up we went less and less. Although there was a great celebration with all the traditions that accompanied it, the real meaning of the event had become lost. It felt like Christmas to me, celebrating for celebrations sake, rather than celebrating the coming in of a new year, the beginning of Spring, traditionally symbolising fertility and new life.

Although the Chinese community has grown and diversified within the UK, this can not be said of these celebrations. In London, they have remained in Chinatown and still contain the same stalls and activities that were there when I was young. I am puzzled as to why the celebrations have not become as big as the Notting Hill Carnival and are still confined to Chinatown and Leicester Square.

For many second generation Chinese this is the largest public event celebrating Chinese traditions. It is a shame to me that it is not an event where we feel a proper sense of identity and belonging. I would love this time of year to be a celebration of a new beginning, a celebration of Chinese identity, both for those within our community, and also for those in the greater UK community.

Some more cynical friends have even commented that the event only targets the Western audience and they view it as a quick money making scheme. This attitude saddens me, but I understand that they may feel fobbed off with tokens of 'Chineseness'. Even if Chinese New year is predominantly aimed at a western audience, it is a great opportunity to build on relations and bridge gaps with our communities. It is a chance for us to give those outside the British Chinese community a real and concrete sense of Chinese people.

I hope that one day the celebrations will include the participation of a wide cross-section of the Chinese in Britain and be a truly outward looking event. We should include stage shows of contemporary Chinese performers, as well as traditional Chinese performers!

This year, events in London are being held in Trafalgar Square and I am looking forward to witnessing a greater diversity of Chinese culture. I hope that we can use this occasion to promote our culture in a way that that is accessible to everyone!