A Chinese Lion for the good luck !

Posted by NZ-Photo (Paris, France) on 11 February 2008 in Lifestyle & Culture and Portfolio.

The Chinese New Year 2008 celebration in Paris Chinatown, France.
The Year of the Rat, which begins on February 7, 2008 and ends on January 25, 2009, is the first of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac.

Every year in Paris Chinatown, a Parade occurs int he streets to celebrate the chinese new year.
The parade is set on a sunday and the previous week some shows with chinese Lions take place in front of all shops and restaurants to bring the good luck for this coming year.
After that, on sunday, a parade lasting about 3-4 hours is set up with all French Asian communities, mainly Chinese, Vietnamese and Thai.
The streets are amazingly crowdy, and it's quite a challenge to be able to get some decent photos during the path.
This year I manage to get there early before the show starts and so could get some portraits a bit more easily than during the walk.

[wikipedia :] Rats are leaders, pioneers and conquerors. They are charming, passionate, charismatic, practical and hardworking. Rat people are endowed with great leadership skills and are the most highly organized, meticulous, and systematic of the twelve signs. Intelligent and cunning at the same time, rats are highly ambitious

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