Ōtepoti Dunedin’s Chinese New Year celebrations are getting a glow up…literally. Cue the lanterns!
A multi-day spectacular will be taking place in 2025 to welcome the Year of the Snake and celebrate the city’s long standing Chinese connections.
This new scaled up event comes just off the heels of the 30th anniversary of the Dunedin-Shanghai Sister City relationship.
The festival which takes place 26 January to 9 February expands Dunedin’s existing one day of celebration to 15 days and will see the whole city come alive as streets and business are adorned in Chinese lanterns, and a calendar of events kicks off.
Tourism operators like Dunedin Railways and Lan Yuan Dunedin Chinese Garden are getting involved with events such as lantern festivals, Chinese heritage train journeys and tours and more.
Stories of Chinese settlers who established their families here after the Otago Gold Rush and began businesses like market gardens and laundries will be on display as well.
Lan Yuan Dunedin Chinese Garden continues to play host to the main Chinese New Year celebrations, complete with parade, dragon dances, food trucks, cultural performances, and fireworks.