“There are so many traditions here, and the whole community gets into it.”
“There are so many traditions here, and the whole community gets into it.”
Today (Tuesday, February 17) marks the start of the 2026 Chinese New Year, and celebrations are underway in Liverpool. The city always goes all out for the event, with firecracker displays, unicorn and dragon parades, and traditional Chinese dance and music.
Thousands of red lanterns can also be seen adorning the streets around Chinatown, Liverpool ONE, The Royal Albert Dock, and some of the city’s most iconic buildings, including Liverpool Town Hall and St George’s Hall, will be illuminated red
Celebrations have already begun across the city, with the main events on Sunday, February 22.
Rebecca Gossage, 44, moved from Allerton to Hong Kong 15 years ago to pursue a teaching career. She described to the ECHO what it’s really like to live in China during the Chinese New Year.
She said: “There are so many traditions here, and the whole community gets into it. As soon as it hits February, you see everyone walking around with orchid plants and trucks come into the town where I live and unload mini orange trees. Everyone buys them for prosperity.
“Everyone is really generous, too. My landlord and my neighbour will come by to give special cakes you only eat at this time of year, and people give red packets with money in them. In school, we collect for the caretakers and cleaning staff, and we also give them out to the local kids in the village.”
Rebecca made the decision to move to Hong Kong when she turned 30 after becoming a qualified teacher and wanting to travel. She said Chinese New Year celebrations create a “bigger buzz than Christmas”.
She said: “You see it especially in the shopping centres, as soon as the Christmas displays get taken down, the Chinese New Year ones go up. There are horse displays everywhere at the moment.
“When you go into the shops, they’ll be playing all the traditional songs and music. It’s all you’ll hear. Local clothes shops will bring out a range of Chinese New Year clothes. It’s a bigger buzz than Christmas for sure.”
As the home of Europe’s oldest Chinese community, Liverpool’s Chinese New Year is always an extravagant celebration. But the centrepiece of the annual parade down Berry Street is undoubtedly the 125ft scarlet dragon, operated by a long line of dancers.
For 50 years, the Hung Gar Kung Fu school has organised the dragon dance for Chinese New Year.
However, Rebecca says the occasion is much “less polished” in the village where she lives compared to than in Liverpool.
She said: “The lion dances are a lot less polished here. It’s more of a family celebration at home than a public celebration like back home.
“The lions will come round and dance around the village for a few weeks, but it’s local businesses paying them to come dance outside their shops for good luck as opposed to a performance.
“You definitely can’t miss it, though you can hear the drums, and you can’t get past them on the pavement. Everyone has so much patience for it.
“It is amazing what they do, and it’s entertaining and exciting, but there’s no schedule for it, you’ll just be out doing your shopping and the florist, for example, has got the lion in. In Liverpool, we have the iconic dance performance, but in China, it’s a bit more basic.”
Firecrackers and fireworks were banned in Hong Kong for security reasons as a result of riots in 1967. However, the ban was lifted in 1975, with government-organised fireworks displays permitted for special occasions, like the New Year countdown at Victoria Harbour and the second day of the Chinese New Year.
Rebecca said: “Celebrations in mainland China are a bit different to Hong Kong. You can’t really buy and set off firecrackers and fireworks in Hong Kong since the protests, but I’ve been to mainland China during the new year before, and people will just set off firecrackers outside their homes rather than throwing big celebrations.
“But again, it’s not a polished performance, and it’s slightly more dangerous as firecrackers are just getting set off in the middle of the crowds. When I was there, a man dropped his candle that he was using to light the firecrackers with, and when I picked it up and passed it to him, he let me set one off. It was mental.
“Every area has a temple, and they will set them off too, and the lion will come, but it’s hard to keep track of what is happening on what day because it’s going on for five days, and each day, different things are happening.
“Most people are at home, though, because you get time off, so everyone mostly goes home to their families and is at home on the actual event itself. Families will travel quite a long distance, and there’s a lot of travelling during that time.”
