Eighty people carry the 92-metre Dai Loong (Great Dragon) through Melbourne's Chinatown to celebrate the Chinese New Year - and it's considered lucky to touch it. All locals join in with the celebrations, whether of Chinese descent or not. February 2010 heralds the Year of the Tiger and, as usual, the festival features traditional and contemporary Chinese cultural events with dances, food stalls, arts and crafts.

Always a vibrant area of the city, well known for quality restaurants and all things Asian, Chinatown comes alive with street stalls and entertainment at this time. Meanwhile, Australians of Chinese descent conduct the necessary rituals at home to bring in luck for the coming year. The Chinese were first attracted toMelbourne by the gold rush in nearby Victorian towns, from about 1851 onwards. Ships sailed from Hong Kong and businesses flourished as the new arrivals provided supplies for the miners or went off to join them. The area is now an integral part of theMelbourne scene, contributing to the city's many festivals throughout the year.

The Origin
Chinese New Year is the first day of the lunar calendar, so it is also called the Lunar New Year. And it is also referred to as the Spring Festival since it is the beginning of the Spring term, which is the first term of the 24 terms on the lunar canlendar. It was recorded that Chinese started to celebrateChinese New Year from about 2000 BC, though the celebrations were held on different times under different emperors. They started to celebrate Chinese New Year on the first day of the lunar calendar based on Emperor Wu Di's almanac of the Han Dynasty.

Legend says the celebrations of Chinese New Year may be related to a beast known as Nian. The beast Nian came out to eat people on new years until an old man found a way to conquer it. Then people started to observe and celebrateChinese New Year. The word "Nian" now has the same meaning as Chinese New Year, which is used as commonly as Chinese New Year . And people often use the term "Guo Nian", which may originally mean "passed or survived the Nian". Now everyone loves Guo Nian.

Melbourne China town History
It was the discovery of gold in 1851 which attracted Chinese immigration to Victoria on a large scale. Ships sailed to Australia from Hong Kong with their cargo of men who had come in search of the "New Gold Mountain".The small but burgeoning Chinese community in Little Bourke Street provided for all the needs of the diggers - lodgings en route to the goldfields, food, equipment and medicine. In the 1860s many Chinese district associations began to purchase land in little Bourke Street to build clubrooms which would serve as meeting places for the Chinese community. From the early 1870s until the early twentieth century,Chinatown experienced a stage of growth. For as gold dried up on the diggings, those who did not return to China went back to Melbourne's Chinatown which, for those who stayed, represented the only community they had. They found work and established businesses to cater for the local Chinese and non Chinese markets. The 1880s were the days of "Marvellous Melbourne", the time when industry was booming.

The new labour laws combined with the effects of the "White Australia Policy" introduced in 1901 plunged Chinatown into darkness. It was no longer the residential haven for the Chinese, as the population declined alongside business. When the government eased immigration laws in 1947 Chinatown revived itself once more, spreading its population over suburban Melbourne. Chinatown today now predominantly extends along Little Bourke Street between Swanston St and Spring St. Its cabinet makers and lodging houses may now be gone but eating houses and top class restaurants now take their place with the streetscape and its low-rise brick buildings, retaining its historic character.

It remains a busy and important social and economic centre for the Chinese Community and proudly stands as one of Melbourne city's most popular venues. Throughout the year, there are many traditional festivals and activities, making Chinatown a popular destination in the city centre for local, interstate and international visitor.