For immediate release JY&A Media

Wellington sees four-week Chinese New Year Festival ’07 programme

Numbers expected to reach 27,000, with children’s and family events, and a fashion and dance show

Wellington, February 1 (JY&A Media) Thanks to the Asian Events’ Trust, Wellington will celebrate Chinese New Year with four major events in the city, kicking off on Lunar New Year’s Eve, February 17, and ending on March 9. Entry to the events is free.

On February 17, the Sin Nian (New Year) programme at Capital E sees ‘Chalking the Square’, with events aimed at children aged two to fifteen. Children will colour in Year of the Pig images masked out at Civic Square, and there will be stage entertainment, activities and competitions for them. Events run from 2 to 5 p.m.

New Clothes for the New Year, on February 25, is a fashion and dance show under the sails at Queen’s Wharf hosted by Jack Yan, publisher of New Zealand’s only international fashion magazine, Lucire, and actress–writer Katlyn Wong, currently rehearsing Penumbra for AK07.

Designers for New Clothes include Voon, De Nada, Haley Smith New Zealand and Charislee. The dance programme, featuring ‘cHip-cHop’, sees hip-hop set to Canto-pop. The show runs from 2 to 4 p.m. If weather is not ideal, the show will be moved to the Renouf Foyer at the Michael Fowler Centre.

March 4’s Festival Day is the grand finalé to the major celebrations. The traditional Asian Market with food and crafts at the TSB Bank Arena begins at 11 a.m., a street parade featuring international entertainers runs from 2.15 to 3 p.m., and cultural entertainment takes place at Frank Kitts Park, from 3 to 5 p.m. Numbers are expected to hit 27,000.

Schools are offered the opportunity to host four craftspeople from Tianjin, China, who will participate in a schools’ programme from March 5 to 9 inclusive.

More information will be available at the Asian Events’ Trust’s Chinese New Year site at www.chinesenewyear.org.nz.

Images
Images for this release may be downloaded at http://jya.net/070128pr0.htm.

About the Chinese New Year Festival
The Wellington Chinese New Year Festival spans two weeks from Saturday, February 17 to Sunday, March 4, 2007, featuring three separate events, Sin Nian@CapitalE, New Clothes for the New Year and Festival Day. These events offer a wonderful opportunity to educate and share with the residents and visitors of greater Wellington, the traditions, colour and vibrancy of the Chinese culture.
The Festival is well supported by Wellington City Council and Wellington Waterfront. Asia NZ has been involved with the Festival since its inception. This, together with the commitment and work of local community groups in the region, has resulted in the Chinese New Year Festival becoming a major cultural event for Wellington.
Asian Events’ Trust, an independent body, has planned a full programme of activities to celebrate the Year of the Pig, 2007.

About Lucire
Lucire, the global fashion magazine (www.lucire.com), started on the web in 1997. In October 2004, it became the first magazine in its sector to extend its brand into a print magazine. By May 2005, it became the first web magazine to spawn two national print editions. Lucire became the first fashion industry partner of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP, www.unep.org). It is headquartered in Wellington, New Zealand and published by Lucire LLC. For print edition information, see http://www.lucire.net.

ENDS

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