Chinese New Year in London - A festival of color and food
- By Rob Welham
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E-mail China.org.cn, February 25, 2015
For many British people the Chinese New Year celebrations provide a taste of China they might not otherwise experience. After all, a trip to the Middle Kingdom can be very expensive for a family with the cost of flights, visas and hotel stays.
Sunday's celebrations also attracted a large number of people from outside London. For them, the event made their trip to the capital even more worthwhile, a city which offers wonderful opportunities to experience Chinese culture.
Having visited China many times, I am fascinated with its ancient culture, legends and of course China's rich and diverse cuisine.
Chinese food is a particular attraction for many British people, though until recently most were only familiar with Cantonese cuisine. This has much to do with the fact that the first Chinese immigrants to set up restaurants in Britain were mainly from southern China and Hong Kong.
Along with chopsticks and woks, they brought sweet and sour dishes, wonton soup and crispy duck and many dishes were further changed to accommodate English tastes.
But as the British have become more sophisticated and well traveled, so Chinatown has changed. There are now a growing number of Sichuan restaurants offering fiery regional dishes such as La Zi Ji [辣子雞] or Chicken with chilies.
There are even a few Hunan restaurants offering dishes known for their hot spicy flavor, fresh aroma and deep color, and Chairman Mao's favorite dish red-cooked pork [hong shao rou, 紅燒肉].
With the Eight Great Traditions of Chinese cuisine there are still some gaps to be filled, but for anyone missing "real" Chinese food or for expats feeling a little homesick, the choice of Chinese food is certainly getting better in London.
In fact the irony is that London's Chinese New Year celebrations offer up sights that may be hard to find in the Chinese mainland. Having spent a few Chinese New Years in China, I found that dragon and lion dances and processions are increasingly rare around the new year festivities. Nonetheless one can't fail to notice the massive amounts of fireworks that fill the sky on the eve of the New Year.
Such fireworks displays were missing from London's extravaganza but the event still went out with a bang as firecrackers scared away the demons as the festivities came to a close.
Hopefully all the noise and color will help brush away the inclement weather and draw in warmer weather as both the Chinese and others look forward to spring.
The writer is a British freelance journalist with a special focus on current affairs, technology and the arts.
