Get your Rat on for Dublin’s Chinese New Year Festival

Cuddle up to a rat for the next couple of weeks. The 13th Dublin Chinese New Year Festival has just kicked off the Year of the Rat, and with it a massively varied set of events, from niche to wide appeal, and many of them free.

Dublin City Council first ran the festival – now a popular fixture which celebrates the culture of about 60,000 Chinese people living in Ireland – in 2008, so now it’s back to the same zodiac animal, the Rat. (In China the rat is a sign of wealth and surplus, and fertility; they’re clever, quick thinkers, successful, but content with living a quiet and peaceful life.)

Kicking it off and at the centre of the 17-day festival across the city is this weekend’s Spring Festival Fair. Inspired by Chinese temple fairs – Miaohui – there’ll be performances, workshops, demonstrations and games, food stalls and folks artists from China. Thousands of visitors are expected over Saturday and Sundayin Dublin’s Victorian-era Fruit and Vegetable Market in Smithfield, which closed for redevelopment in August 2019, and reopens for this. The free event includes Chinese dragon and lion performances, a Chinese tea ceremony, Chinese calligraphy tryouts, and demos of an old folk tradition of sugar painting.

Of last year’s 25,500 Chinese new year festival visitors, about half went to the fair.

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The Dublin City Council initiative, backed by a large advisory panel and with many partners, invites citizens to sample Chinese culture at talks, visual arts, performance, film, music and family events – from square dancing or sampling dumplings, to seeing Chinese art or making a Chinese puppet.

Reciprocating the Great Wall of China’s green lighting for St Patrick’s Day, buildings and landmarks in Dublin and Kildare will be illuminated in red to welcome the new year.

On February 1st and 2nd there are family-friendly celebrations at Kildare Village, including interactive activations from China and demos of Chinese folk arts (11am-5pm, free). The public can try Chinese square dancing (Guangchang Wu) at Wolfe Tone Square (Feb 1st, 2-4pm, free).

Spring Festival Gala

There’s an array of other events lined up.

A Spring Festival Gala sees Inner Mongolia National Art Theatre perform ethnic dance, acrobatics and Peking Opera at the Convention Centre. Our Chinatown, a family concert at City Hall, spotlights Chinese talent at the RIAM, which also presents a concert by classical guitarist Xuefei Yang at the National Gallery.

Talks and lectures are diverse – from the history of dumplings hosted by food writer Mei Chin, to China’s space programme, to how Chinese migrants adapt to Ireland, to the commonalities between Ireland and China. Intriguingly, one of a series of talks at Trinity Long Room Hub promises to shed light on the linguistic and cultural background of Chinese swear words. Exhibitions include a Chinese language tour of the Gallery of Photography’s immersive New Artificiality, by Swiss artist Catherine Leutenegger, exploring 3D printing, including 3D printed homes being built in Suzhou, China. There’s an extensive programme of tours and workshops.

A mini-festival, Taste of Asia, includes traditional Lion Dancers visiting Dublin restaurants, traditional Chinese dress banquets, walking and tours, and a hot pot night. At the Asia Market there’s tasting and making on dumpling day (Jan 31st), and a free Chinese new year food extravaganza (Feb 1st-2nd).

Welcoming the year of the rat, Chinese Ambassador to Ireland, His Excellency He Xiangdong, extended “my festive greetings and best wishes to the Chinese Community in Ireland and to our Irish friends and partners. I wish everybody a very happy and prosperous new year!”

Dublin Chinese New Year Festival, Jan 24th-Feb 10th. dublinchinesenewyear.com