Chinese New Year, officially launched yesterday at the crowded Dublin Chinatown festival in Smithfield, marks the Year of the Monkey.
People born in the Year of the Monkey are "intelligent, well liked by everyone and successful in their chosen field".
So is it monkey year for Lord Mayor Cllr Royston Brady, who launched the four-day celebration which finishes on Tuesday? Astrologically speaking, the European election candidate is no monkey, but at first coyly declines to admit what animal sign he was born under. Eventually, after some persuading, he admits that his wife Michelle told him his was the Year of the Rat.
Rats and monkeys apart, the Lord Mayor acknowledges the success of the festival at Smithfield, which opened on Saturday and attracted some 38,000 visitors.
Yesterday even more were expected and people queued for up to 90 minutes to get into Chinatown, or rather China village, with stalls selling everything from Chinese dumplings to phone cards, yoga lessons to lanterns.
The stage entertainment included a Chinese lion dance, and martial arts demonstrations of Kung Fu and Tai Chi. "It's the first time that the new year has been celebrated here on a scale like this," said Cllr Brady, who expressed his surprise at the estimated 35,000 to 40,000-strong Chinese community living in Dublin.
"They mainly keep themselves to themselves and yet make such a huge contribution to the economy, which we don't acknowledge enough," the Lord Mayor said.
The Chinese ambassador, Mr Sha Hailin, highlighted the extent of trade between Ireland and China when he addressed the hundreds of people waiting for the performances to begin.
Bilateral trade had risen 63 per cent last year and some 60 Irish companies had opened branches or got involved in joint ventures in China. Every Chinatown the world over has its arch, and the Smithfield arch took four days to build, according to Dr Katherine Chan Mullen of the Festival committee. She promised, however, that next year's arch would be bigger.
For students Hui Ning Han and Chun Zao Wong, strolling past the stalls, the event was a welcome surprise. Hui Ning Han said there was no such celebration last year, and she was particularly pleased that "I could get some Chinese magazines here".
Jimmy Hendrick, who runs the Bulfin youth club in Inchicore, where the activities include street theatre, was impressed. "It's good to see how the other half lives," he said, and was delighted to have made contact with a Chinese man who imports fibreglass masks. The contact will help with their next production.
- Further information at www.chinatown.ie
