Celebrations of Chinese culture held in Sydney

A series of cultural performances and demonstrations bring the Spring Festival fun to Sydney.

The Lunar New Year celebrations may be almost over, but the festivities are continuing. The Chinese embassy in Sydney have dedicated a day to celebrating the Spring Festival and Chinese culture.

The carnival features a series of cultural performances and demonstrations, bringing the Spring Festival fun to Sydney. Over the past four years, the annual event has become popular not only with the Chinese community but also with locals. And some have even set up their own stalls to allow more people to learn about China and the country's culture.

"This is my second time to have a stand here, but I've been here many times before," said Carole Kyle from Sydney. Carole has brought along some brochures about Project Hope which supports Chinese students who drop out of school due to poverty.

China's Ambassador to Australia Ma Zhaoxu hopes that this kind of event will facilitate a dialogue between people from the two countries.

"In Chinese culture, we appreciate unity without uniformity, and harmony in diversity. Australian culture welcomes cultural diversity, so that is a good foundation for Sino-Australian relations, to further our understandings and enhance our friendship," Ma said.

Sydney's mayor Clover Moore was also present and echoed Ma's view.

"In fact we have Chinese living in Australia since the middle of the 19th century, so it goes way back and there has been a strong link between China and Australia for many many years," Moore said.

"We have a very ancient culture here, the aboriginal culture. You have a very ancient culture in China. We'd like to marry those two and celebrate them."

A centre dedicated to Chinese culture in Sydney is also set to have a test run in March, and will be the biggest of its kind in the Oceania region.