Chinese New Year

2010 is the year of the Tiger - It is thought that people born in the year of the Tiger have characteristics which include being competitive, passionate, independent, alert and intelligent.

At the Civic Centre

In order to mark the Chinese New Year celebration in the city, organisers have arranged a series of activities including a dragon dance, lion dance and parade through the city centre. This will take place on Sunday 14th February. The event will officially start at 11.00am at the Civic Centre with the Mayor of Southampton performing the traditional ceremony of 'dim jing', this involves the painting of the eye of the dragon. This is a symbolic ritual of giving a life to the dragon. This will be followed by the dragon dance, unicorn dance, lion dance and martial arts display. Following the ceremony the dragon will parade through the City Centre stopping at a demonstration area at the Bargate.

A large temporary screen complete with a camera crew will be operational in the Civic Centre car park to relay live footage onto the screen. A big screen will be placed in the centre, allowing you to text your ‘love messages’ for all to see.

Dragon Parade

At approximately 12.30pm the lion and dragon paraded through the City Centre to the Bargate where they stopped for a short demonstration. After the demonstration some of the parade continued along the route to the Grosvenor Casino.

Festival of Love

The Festival of Love featuring the Chinese New Year Market will take place on Saturday 13 and Sunday 14 February at the Bargate and Above Bar area in the City Centre Precinct.