Eat, Drink, Dance, Do – the Best Sydney Chinese New Year Events

Red envelopes and firecrackers are strewing the streets of Chinatown, bowls of incense and fruit are lining the front of your favourite Chinese diner, and before you can say kung hei fat choi (Chinese for 'happy new year'), there’s a lion dancing in your doorway.

This is the year of the snake, a sign of introspection and intuitiveness but also stylishness and exceptional good taste — Jessica Mauboy, David Wenham, and Audrey Hepburn are just a few of the characters born under it.

Whether you're keen as a cracker to cheer on the parade floats, dying to slip on your glad rags for the jazzy Dragon Ball, or just want to gorge yourself on a Lunar Feast, here's a list of ideas to help you get your slither on this Chinese New Year.

1. Twilight Parade

A firm favourite on the Chinese New Year activity calendar, this year’s Twilight Parade promises the same visual spectacle of vibrant dancers, rainbow-hued floats, and vivid fireworks that have characterised each year's bedazzling parade offering. Dancers and acrobats (and all manner of snake-like acts) will be entertaining the crowds from 7pm, there’s an eye-dotting ceremony at 8pm to 'bless' the Chinese New Year lions, then the parade kicks off at 8.15pm from Sydney Town Hall on George St. Sydney CBD buildings also get into the new year action with enchanting projections illuminating their facades whilst post-parade fireworks at Cockle Bay wharf will round off the night and help to scare away any back luck from the previous year.

Free. February 17, from 7pm. Sydney Town Hall to Chinatown, 483 George Street, Sydney. Fireworks at Cockle Bay Wharf.

2. Dragon Ball

Sydney Town Hall will be transformed into a glamorous, chandelier-swinging, big-band-grooving event with the return of the Dragon Ball, a fixture on the Australian Chinese social calendar from the 1930s to the 1970s when the event saw young debutantes presented to the Chinese Consul General with their families looking on. After a 40-year hiatus, a modern reincarnation of the Dragon Ball band will be cranking out contemporary tunes and bringing to life the heady days of swing — think double bass and drums, trumpets and trombones, with a lilting, swing rhythm. This is a night to dust off your glam frocks and sashay out onto the dance floor for a cha-cha or a samba. Visit Moshtix to book your tickets.

February 23, 7.30pm to midnight, Centennial Hall, Sydney Town Hall, $60-70pp + booking fee.

3. Jurassic Lounge celebrates Chinese New Year

It's the Tuesday night pop-up event that put the cool back into museums and saw us frolicking amongst the dino bones and grooving to late-night tunes. This year Jurassic Lounge at the Australian Museum will be celebrating the Year of the Snake with a night of contemporary Chinese-Australian art and performance. Grab a glass of vino and soak in the entertainment, including foley artist Les Fiddess (Lord of the Rings trilogy) creating live sound effects to old kung-fu movies, neo-burlesque star Diesel Darling and her pet serpents, and how-to demonstrations on Chinese lantern making and mahjong, all set against the kooky backdrop of taxidermy, dinosaur fossils and quirky science specimens.

Tuesday, February 19, 5.30pm–9.30pm. $14 (or $26 with entry to Alexander the Great exhibition).

4. Mahjong Playlunch

There's the thud of solid bakelite tiles as they're slid across the felt-lined table. whilst players drink cups of steaming Jasmine tea or nibble delicately on tasty dim sums. Suddenly someone calls 'mahjong' and the table erupts into chatter. It's a busy afternoon at the MahJong Room in Surry Hills, and the atmosphere is electric. Celebrate Chinese New Year with your friends by learning this thousand-year-old game of skill and chance at Surry Hills' answer to the traditional mahjong houses of old Shanghai. Furnished with a mahjong playing set, a belly full of dim sums, and personal lessons from the staff, it's a cool way to while away an afternoon.

February 9 and 23, 2pm–5pm. Minimum group of four. $39/pp including dim sums. Mahjong Room, 312 Crown Street, Surry Hills.

5. Dragon Boat Racing

Fast and furious, wet and wild — no it's not an ad for a summer roller-coaster ride, it's the frantic dash in a 12m-long painted boat known as dragon boat racing. Dating back 2000 years, the race was traditionally held on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month of the Chinese Calendar to encourage rains for prosperity — the dragon, the symbol of water, was the object of worship for the ancient Chinese. Today, it's a heart-thumping sport boasting crews of roughly 20 rowers. Grab a waterside seat and watch some of Sydney's best dragon boat teams battle it out in this highly competitive, thrilling sport.

Free. February 23–24. 8am–5pm. Cockle Bay, Darling Harbour, Sydney.

6. Lunar Feasts

Want to try something other than your beef and black bean Friday night special? Sydney has gone all Year of the Snake with a rash of Lunar Feasts, from vegan Buddhist banquets to sumptuous eight course spreads. There are banquets from as little as $20 at dumpling powerhouse Din Tai Fung in World Square, or for something different, trendy Ms.G's in Potts Point is hosting an eight-course feast served with a delectable cocktail slushie for $50. You can go traditional at the Eight Restaurant with its Peking duck and seafood offering, or modern with rice paper queen Misschu's take on the Lunar Feast, complete with a frozen coconut and lychee crushie. Still undecided? Check out the Lunar Feasts site for a full listing of eateries.

February 8-28 at participating restaurants.

7. Lion Dances

Said to have originated around 200 BC, lion dancing is performed during Chinese New Year to bring good luck and fortune to each business where the lion drops by. The Chinese love a pun-based wordplay, and the traditional lion dance, or cai ching ('plucking the greens') has both a literal meaning — the lion stops at each business to eat a bowl of greens or vegetables — and a symbolic one. You see, the word for vegetable in Chinese is cai, which is also the word for fortune. Get it? Don't worry, if the symbolism has you in a spin, just grab a seat ringside and enjoy the colour, noise, and excitement which is the lion dance.

Free. February 10 and 16. Chinatown, Sydney.

8. Chinese New Year Markets

There'll be bamboo baskets piled high with steaming dumplings, bowls of soy-covered noodles waiting to be slurped, and cooking demonstrations courtesy of former MasterChef contestants Adam Liaw and Alvin Quah at the Chinese New Year Markets in Belmore Park. There's live entertainment on the main market stage with a cult steampunk kung-fu film screening, traditional Korean martial arts performances, hip hop, Vietnamese singing, and Cantonese opera. Want to belt out a tune? Battle it out at the karaoke competition, and if you're the crowd's favourite, you might end up taking home a swag of prizes. The official festival launch kicks off Friday night with an evening of fireworks to scare last year's baddies away.

Free. February 8-11, Belmore Park, Eddy Avenue, Sydney.

9. Snake Snake Snake - An Exhibition of Contemporary Asian Australian Artists

Enigmatic, intuitive, and refined, people born in the Year of the Snake are also said to be thoughtful and wise. With that in mind, head down to the Snake Snake Snake exhibition at Sydney Town Hall for a contemplative exploration of the themes of heritage, individual journeys, and the concept of home. Curator Catherine Croll has assembled an eclectic mix of work from emerging and established artists – those newly arrived in Australian and those with shared Aboriginal heritage – for a thought provoking exhibit that examines the depth and range of relationships and artistic exchanges between Australia and China, Vietnam and Korea.

February 5-23, noon to 8pm daily. Lower Town Hall, Sydney Town Hall (entry via Druitt Street), 483 George Street, Sydney.

10.Chinese Garden of Friendship: Tea Ceremony

It's not the Forbidden City, but step through the Chinese Garden of Friendship's ornate entrance way and you could be in old Beijing. With its tiled pagodas and paved stone paths and immaculately landscaped grounds complete with waterfalls and lakes, it's the perfect setting to learn more about one of China's traditional arts: the tea ceremony. In a Chinese tea ceremony, the emphasis is on the tea, rather than the ceremony. With Christina Leung, owner of Zensation Tea House in Redfern, as your guide, learn how to select and brew Chinese tea, appreciate its aroma, and some traditional forms of serving.

February 12, 11am to noon. Cost included in garden entry $6/$3. Chinese Gardens open daily, 9.30am to 5pm Book at Darling Harbour - Chinese New Year Bookings.

Check out our Ten Best Things to Do in Chinatown.