{"id":14494,"date":"2018-03-21T10:40:15","date_gmt":"2018-03-21T09:40:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dovevado.net\/capodanno-cinese-a-londra\/"},"modified":"2020-09-08T11:26:41","modified_gmt":"2020-09-08T09:26:41","slug":"chinese-new-year-in-london","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dovevado.net\/en\/chinese-new-year-in-london\/","title":{"rendered":"Chinese New Year in London"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Year of the Rooster<\/h2>\n\n

Chinese New Year 2018 began on 16 February, marking the beginning of the Year of the Dog. I was lucky enough to find myself in the Chinatown<\/strong> in London during the 2017 Chinatown<\/strong> on 28 January, when the beginning of the Year of the Rooster<\/strong> was celebrated. The celebrations, which lasted two weeks, continued until 2 February.<\/p>\n\n

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Chinese Year of the Rooster 2017<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n

For the Chinese people this is a very important anniversary, which is celebrated with big house cleaning, parties, dinners and gifts of money to children.<\/p>\n\n

Chinese New Year takes place every year on a different date because it is based on the lunar calendar, and usually falls between January 21st and February 20th.\u00a0The Chinese zodiac moves in a cycle of 12 years, each one characterized by a specific animal. For example, the previous years of the Rooster were 1945, 1957, 1969, 1981, 1993 and 2005.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

\u00a0<\/h2>\n\n

Red lanterns in Chinatown<\/h2>\n\n

London’s Chinatown is located in the City of Westminster, around Gerrard Street. In fact during my stay I had already noticed the red lanterns that decorated much of the West End<\/strong> area, but I certainly didn’t expect to end up in the middle of a collective delirium that attracts something like 700,000 visitors, making it the busiest Chinese New Year celebration event outside Asia. Although the celebrations are concentrated in the area of Soho<\/strong>, the whole surrounding area, and we are talking about a really big area, the Saturday when the event started had been closed to traffic and I was able to enjoy the rare experience of walking in the middle of Charing Cross Road without risking my skin. And I also enjoyed the sight of hundreds of agents from Scotland Yard (God, when I like them!) patrolling the streets on foot and horseback, gorgeous in their black uniforms with phosphorescent yellow jackets with METROPOLITAN POLICE written on them.<\/p>\n\n