130,000 attend Sydney's Chinese New Year parade

More than 130,000 people welcomed the Year of the Sheep in Sydney on Sunday night, in the largest Chinese New Year celebration outside China.

The parade featured more than 3,000 performers from community and business groups, as well as 100 performers flown in from China 's Sichuan, Shaanxi and Beijing. Martial artists, acrobats, jugglers, puppeteers, dancers and musicians amazed crowds with their unique skills.

The opening troupe of performers celebrated the role Chinese shepherds played in the early days of the Australian wool industry. The parade also featured a five-meter sheep as well as street fireworks, flame throwers and artistic projections that lit up city buildings.

Local Australian-based Chinese groups from Shanghai, Fujian, Guangzhou and Beijing also took part.

The Sydney Chinese New Year Twilight Parade is claimed by the council to be the biggest celebration of the New Year outside China, according to Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore.

"The Twilight Parade is an excellent way we celebrate Sydney's cultural diversity," Moore said.