Chinese Spring festival on February 24th in Ghent, Belgium

On Saturday 24th February 2018, Ghent will celebrate Chinese New Year: the most important party of the Chinese community. Starting at 2pm you will experience a great spectacle in the historic centre, full of dance and music, with a traditional Asian parade to highlight. The colourful parade starts at the City hall and passes through the Kammerstraat, Langemunt and Graslei.

Chinese communities annually celebrate the Spring festival and it is for a third year running that a Chinese New Year Parade has been arranged in Belgium. Last events in Brussels and Dinant aroused great public interest. This February, Ghent will host the parade and is excited to welcome many guests, tourists and inhabitants.

It is understandable that the parade will be held in Ghent: Ghent is a vivid city full of culture, with a beautiful historical centre. But Ghent also has active ties with China. For many years the city has been in partnership with the City of Weihai and is involved in the European City network Eurocities that actively promotes EU-China cooperation. The city also cooperates with the Flemish-Chinese Chamber of Commerce. And the Chinese Geely Golding is the proud owner of the VOLVO factory in Ghent, a big plant in the Port of Ghent.

This third ‘Chinese New Year Parade’, the start of the year of the dog, is organised by the Chinese community in Belgium, together with the Chinese Embassy and the city of Ghent.

• 2 pm to 3 pm: Opening ceremony underneath the city hall features speeches, shows and magic lion and dragon dance

• 3 pm to 4.30 pm: New Year’s Parade through the city centre.

Information

• Tineke Cartreul, City of Ghent, International Relations Service, gsm 0486 92 74 42, e-mail tineke.cartreul@stad.gent

• Mr Sun Shuai, Embassy of the People's Republic of China in the Kingdom of Belgium, e-mail lengyan_1989@126.com

Responsible mayor and vice-mayors in the City of Ghent