London's Mayor Ken Livingstone (C) is joined by Chelsea's Frank Lampard (L) and Shanghai's Wang Dalei from the world of football to turn on the huge Chinese lanterns at Oxford Circus to mark the launch of "China in London," a month long celebration of Chinese culture in the capital. [AFP]

London - London Mayor Ken Livingstone launched a campaign of celebrations to coincide with Lunar New Year, his latest effort to build stronger economic and cultural links with China.

China in London 2007, which runs throughout February and March, opened with a blaze of red Chinese lanterns being switched on above Oxford Circus, in the heart of the capital's busy shopping area.

Guests of honour included the Chinese Olympic football team, whose friendly match with Queen's Park Rangers last week descended into a mass brawl which left one player with a broken jaw.

England footballer Frank Lampard, whose club side Chelsea recently launched an official website in Mandarin, also appeared.

On Sunday, London will host a free Lunar New Year festival and parade which could attract up to 200,000 people, the biggest outside Asia, before weeks of Chinese-themed exhibitions, performances and films.

But underpinning the celebration of cultural links are strengthening economic ties between the British capital and China.

During the festivities, Livingstone will focus on building relationships with Shanghai, one of two cities, alongside Beijing, where he has opened offices to promote London as a destination for Chinese businesses and tourists.

He has also said that London, which is hosting the 2012 Olympics, should work with Beijing, the venue for next year's games, to learn lessons from their experiences.

"Our first priority is to get Chinese companies to list on the stock exchange, the second is to get Chinese companies to set up in London, the third is to get tourists to come and the fourth is Chinese students," said John Ross, Livingstone's chief economic advisor.

Companies listed on the London Stock Exchange include China Petroleum And Chemical Corporation and Air China, while 44 Chinese companies were listed on the smaller AIM exchange.

London attracts 15 percent of investment in Europe, according to Think London, the capital's foreign direct investment agency.

This, combined with nearly 8,000 Chinese students studying in the British capital, shows that London's links with the dragon nation extend beyond a love of Chinese takeaways, Livingstone's office argues.

Ross rejected the findings of a SAMI Consulting/Oxford Analytica report published last October warning that London's City financial district was not building strong enough business links with China.

He accepted that Britain was initially "a decade" behind the United States in realizing that the Chinese economy would evolve so far in the 1990s.

But New York has since "done itself a lot of damage" through over-regulation, which is not an issue for London, he added.