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Get down to Chinatown and celebrate the Chinese New Year. People born in the Year of the Dragon (1952, 1964, 1976, 1988, 2000 and 2012) are supposed to be confident, generous and ambitious, albeit a little impulsive and temperamental. They are also strong and independent individuals, but need constant support and love -- although they sometimes struggle to return the affection!
More than half a million people are expected to descend on the capital for a spectacular parade of paper-mache lions, fire-breathing dragons and oriental dancers, making their way from Trafalgar Square to Chinatown and back again.
The parade will start in Charing Cross Road (near St. Martin-in-the-Fields church) at around 10 AM. It will then move along to Cambridge Circus and turn left down Shaftesbury Avenue into Chinatown. It will then arrive back at Trafalgar Square at around 12 noon where the official Lions' Eye-Dotting Ceremony will take place, followed by the traditional dragon and flying lion dances.
In Trafalgar Square they'll also be setting up a large stage for a succession of dance troupes, acrobats, opera singers and martial artists (usually 11 AM to 6 PM). The big finale includes fireworks and firecrackers and maybe even a light-show projected onto Nelson's Column (that's what they had last time).
There will be plenty more stalls along Wardour Street and Gerrard Street, and probably another stage in Shaftesbury Avenue (by the entrance to Chinatown). You might want to try some of the restaurants around Chinatown as well which will be festooned with red lanterns and decorations strung up in the street, which will add greatly to the oriental atmosphere -- that's why it's on our list of 10 best annual events in London.
If you want to learn a couple of phrases for the day then try Xin Nian Kuai Le, which means "Happy New Year" in Mandarin, and San Nin Faai Lok, which is the same in Cantonese.
