STORY: London's Camden Market hosts Chinese New Year celebration
SHOOTING TIME: Feb. 1, 2025
DATELINE: Feb. 2, 2025
LENGTH: 0:03:44
LOCATION: London
CATEGORY: CULTURE

SHOTLIST:
1. various of Camden Market
2. SOUNDBITE 1 (English): TARU SINGHAL, Student from King's College London
3. SOUNDBITE 2 (Chinese): ZHANG KEYAO, Student from King's College London
4. SOUNDBITE 3 (English): JENNIE MILWARD, London resident
5. SOUNDBITE 4 (English): ABUDUL HAI, Director of Community Relations and Public Affairs, LabTech London Limited

STORYLINE:

London's world-famous Camden Market hosted its first-ever Chinese New Year celebration on Saturday.

By presenting Chinese cultural heritage crafts and vibrant activities, the celebration attracted many visitors and residents.

The celebration kicked off in the afternoon with a lion dance parade and performances presented by an acrobatic troupe from southwest China's Guizhou Province.

Various workshops were set up for visitors to learn calligraphy, woodblock printing, and fan making. There were also Sichuan operas, Shaolin Kung Fu, Hanfu parade, and traditional folk music to entertain visitors and immerse them in Chinese culture.

SOUNDBITE 1 (English): TARU SINGHAL, Student from King's College London
"Personally, I'm always interested in different cultures of different worlds and the people that celebrate different festivals and all. 
After coming here, I think it's like a vast ground for opportunities, and there are so many opportunities to celebrate festivals like the Spring Festival. 
I'm honestly like very happy to be a part of this community and to be able to celebrate with the fellow people here. It's amazing. 
People around here, like they're selling the Chinese stuff, as well like the fabrics and the dress and all. I think a very good way of including people into the tradition, like introducing them, because I think dressing up is something that everyone enjoys."

SOUNDBITE 2 (Chinese): ZHANG KEYAO, Student from King's College London
"It's my first time to celebrate the Chinese New Year abroad, and I felt warm about having such an event in a foreign country. To be honest, studying abroad, especially during a family reunion festival such as Chinese New Year, makes me especially homesick. Having such an event, seeing so many familiar Chinese faces, and experiencing Chinese customs makes me feel very warm inside."

SOUNDBITE 3 (English): JENNIE MILWARD, London resident
"I love playing mahjong. I learned it when I was little. My dad was in Hong Kong. We lived in Hong Kong for a while, and we played as a family every weekend. So I just love playing mahjong and showing other people how to play. It's just such fun. I think it's the sound of the bricks, everything being mixed up together. It just reminds me of when we lived in Hong Kong."

Camden Market, the UK's biggest street market and iconic landmark, is a popular visitor attraction in London, attracting approximately 250,000 people each week.

SOUNDBITE 4 (English): ABUDUL HAI, Director of Community Relations and Public Affairs, LabTech London Limited
"It's a real pleasure for us to host the first-ever Chinese New Year event at the famous Camden Market. We want to make sure that we're celebrating key events across the world. And Chinese New Year happens to be one of the key ones. So this is an opportunity, especially for young students, young people, to come and learn to appreciate, to understand, and to bring people together through us and culture, yet as a way of promoting harmony, tolerance and cohesion."

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from London.
(XHTV)