Lanterns glow for Green Square’s first lunar festival

Green Square residents and visitors will welcome the Year of the Pig in style, with Sydney Lunar Festival celebrations extending to Sydney’s fastest growing neighbourhood for the first time.

The City of Sydney festival from 1–10 February will see two special Lunar Lanterns at Green Square and everything from lights and lion dances to classical violin and calligraphy demonstrations to celebrate the Lunar New Year.

The two dog lanterns by Shanghai artist Fan Dongwang are part of the celebrated citywide exhibition, extending from Circular Quay to Chinatown. Visitors will find a ‘pig in a blanket’ lantern in the plaza and two towering yin and yang dog lanterns guarding the entrance to the state-of-the-art library entrance.

Lord Mayor Clover Moore and Councillor Robert Kok will take part in the festivities with a red packet walk in Green Square on Saturday 9 February.

“I am very excited to be bringing the City’s Sydney Lunar Festival celebrations to Green Square for the first time” the Lord Mayor said.

“Green Square is home to nearly 31,000 residents, and with new community facilities such as the library and plaza now open, it’s the perfect time to extend our festivities into this exciting new neighbourhood”

I look forward to ringing in the Year of the Pig and I invite all our Green Square residents to step out and enjoy the array of events on offer to celebrate Lunar New Year.”

A program of classical music performances by three Asian-Australian musicians, including pianist Van Leucia and 11-year-old violinist Justine Zhang, will be a highlight of the Green Square celebrations, taking place in the library tower.

The highly talented Miss Zhang said: “The lunar year festival is an important annual event for me, my family and friends. My performance at the Green Square concert will give me the opportunity to stand up on a stage and share my talents, and celebrate the festival in my way – through the language of music.

“I was born in the year of golden pig in 2007, so I am especially happy this year. The pig represents luck, good fortune and wealth, and symbolises a hardworking, truthful, generous, reliable person, like I try to be.”

The library, which will be adorned by festive red lanterns, will host a free Chinese calligraphy demonstration on Saturday 2 February from 1pm to 3pm, where visitors can learn about calligraphy and try their hand at the ancient Chinese art.

Sydney Lunar Festival has evolved from a small community celebration in Chinatown 23 years ago and now attracts more than 1.3 million visitors from all over the world each year.

Sydney Lunar Festival runs from 1 to 10 February. For more details on the program and to plan your festival experience, see sydneylunarfestival.com

For media enquiries or images, contact Senior Media Advisor, Elaine Kelly on 0477 362 550 or email [email protected], or Event Communications Specialist, Lynda Gladwin on 02 9246 7356 or email [email protected]

For interviews with Lord Mayor Clover Moore, please contact Anusha Muller. Phone 0408 494 545 or email [email protected]