HAPPY NEW YEAR: The Central Victorian Lion Team perform in Rosalind Park. Picture: JODIE DONNELLAN
DRAGON Jing Shen danced through the crowd and the Southern Lion team showed off their acrobatic skills as the Central Victorian Lion Team celebrated Chinese New Year last night.
More than 200 interested onlookers watched as the team put on a spectacular show at Bendigo’s Rosalind Park.
The two-hour performance featured the Fu Wa Girls, the Southern Lions, 18-metre-long dragon Jing Shen and his smaller counterpart, Xing-Fu. Bendigo martial arts group Wing Chun completed a demonstration and members of the Ballarat Chinese Australian Cultural Society also performed.
This year marks the year of the snake with the Bendigo performance also incorporating the animal.
Central Victorian Lion Team president Garry Sea said the new year celebrations was an important time on the Chinese calendar.
He said the Central Victorian Lion Team was proud to share it with the people of Bendigo.
Mr Sea said the next event the team was preparing for was the Bendigo Easter Festival.
Today, the team will conduct traditional shop blessings in the CBD to help wish Bendigo businesses a new year full of wealth and prosperity.
The blessings will begin in Hargreaves Mall at 9.30am.