MEMBERS of the Chinese Australian Cultural Society Ballarat celebrated Luna New Year with concert at Civic Hall last Saturday.<\/p>\n
With a line-up of more than 100 performers, the Society\u2019s vice-president Michelle Philips said she hopes the inaugural performance will be the first in an annual tradition.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re hoping this will be just the beginning,\u201d she said. \u201cTraditionally, we\u2019d hold celebrations with Sovereign Hill but it\u2019s time we do something different for the community.<\/p>\n
\u201cChinese New Year is the biggest festival held by the Chinese people. We\u2019re in the Year of the Rabbit which is the fourth rotation in the lunar cycle.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got the Huazi troop coming from Melbourne and they have members from all of China\u2019s cultural groups.<\/p>\n
\u201cChina is a very large country and its provinces vary from the Mongolian-Russians to the north to Cantonese in the south so we\u2019re reflecting that diversity with our performers.\u201d<\/p>\n Performers included the Happy Birds dancing group, the Ballarat Pipe Band and tai chi demonstrations.<\/p>\n Jie Fang visited from Melbourne to take part in the concert as a Bian Lian, also known as face changing.<\/p>\n She said the event, to her, was about showcasing her culture.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s definitely a spread of our culture and to get more people interested in our traditions,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2023\/02\/Luna-NY-20-scaled-e1675228397320-200x300.jpg\")
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