Sydney set to host one of biggest Lunar New Year celebrations outside of Asia in 2017

SYDNEY -- Australia's Sydney is set to host one of the biggest celebrations of the 2017 Lunar New Year Festival outside of Asia with more than a million visitors set to enjoy the sights, sounds and tastes of the celebration.

City of Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore in a statement on Monday said the Sydney Chinese New Year Festival Celebration to be held from January 27 to February 12 will be an internationally renowned celebration among the Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai and Korean communities.

"From its humble beginnings in Chinatown, the festival now extends all the way to Sydney Harbour and last year attracted 1.3 million people, making it the third largest annual event in Sydney," Moore said.

"Featuring the Lunar Lanterns and 80 traditional and contemporary events across Sydney, the 2017 Lunar New Year celebrations has something for everyone," he said.

Among them will be the Lunar Lanterns trail around Circular Quay from the Sydney Opera House to Dawes Point.

Twelve spectacular zodiac animal lanterns designed by Australian Chinese artists and varying in size up to 10 meters high will line the foreshore for the entire 17-day festival.

Festival curator, Claudia Chan Shaw said the Lunar Lanterns walk will create a vibrant precinct around the Sydney harbour for visitors and families to explore.

"Following the enormous success of last year's inaugural Lunar Lanterns exhibition, in 2017 we will introduce several new lanterns that will amaze and delight visitors," Shaw said.

"And being the year of the Rooster, an animal that loves being the centre of attention there will be two hero Rooster lanterns, one at the Sydney Opera House and the other in the festival's cultural heart in Chinatown," she said.