Chinese New Year 2023: Peterborough celebrates culture with Asian food, costumes and traditional games

More than 150 people came together in celebration of Chinese culture in Peterborough – as the Year of the Rabbit got underway.

The Boyu Chinese School’s festival of Chinese traditions showcased Asian street food, colourful costumes, decorations, fans, face masks and games.

“It was a successful event,” Xiuxia Gao, known as Judy, headmistress of the The Boyu Chinese School, said.

"It was a reunion for a lot of Chinese people, but brought together people from all different cultures.

"We want to integrate Chinese cultures with local cultures.”

The Lunar New Year, celebrated primarily by Chinese and other East Asian cultures began on Sunday, kicking off 15 days of festivities and customs.

It marks the beginning of the coming 12 months on the traditional lunisolar calendar.

While the preceding Year of the Tiger was seen as a powerful period of action, people around the world are now preparing for the Year of the Rabbit.

The rabbit sign is expected to usher in intellect and cautiousness and is the fourth animal in the zodiac sequence of 12 – seen as the luckiest.

The Year of the Tiger ended on 21 January and the Year of the Rabbit began the following day, on 22 January.

The Peterborough Telegraph has put together a collection of pictures from the day: