‘It’s almost like having the Olympics again’: Sydney’s lunar new year celebrations grow bigger every year

Simon Chan in Sydney’s Chinatown. He says lunar new year celebrations are ‘precious’ to the city’s Chinese community. Photograph: Blake Sharp-Wiggins/The Guardian

Simon Chan has watched Sydney’s lunar new year celebrations grow over the past two decades, from the small-scale events of the early 90s to what are today thought to be the largest outside Asia.

“Its almost like having a World Cup or the Olympics again, obviously on a smaller scale but the feeling is similar,” says Chan, the president of the Chinese Australian Forum, adding: “We see thousands and thousands of people descend on these events, its massive here.”