Night, Light and Magic will try to perform Dragon Dance next year and attract more people. The Chinese lantern show was displayed in Boscombe’s Chine Gardens last Tuesday night for the first time and attracted more than 300 people.
The show aimed to welcome Chinese New Year and bring whole new colours to the town. Local school children performed Chinese style Butterfly Fan Dance and Golden Flaming Dragon Ribbon Dance to the delight of the crowd. Free fortune cookies were provided as well as Chinese tea, with many Bournemouth people trying Jasmine tea for the first time. The cookies ran out quickly and organiser Annie Herridge said the event was a great success
Mayor of Bournemouth Phil Stanley-Watts attended the celebration and said: “It’s a fantastic colourful event for Bournemouth and Boscombe. It’s really fantastic to see so many people on this cold night.”
“I think it is fantastic for Bournemouth as we now have a mixture of culture.”
Boyan Ren, originally from China, comes to Bournemouth to see his wife and son during the Chinese New Year. He said: “It’s amazing to see a Chinese lantern show outside China. Thank you Bournemouth. The Children are so good tonight, they are stars in this garden.”
I-chen Chunag, from Taiwan, said: “The lanterns are really interesting. They used electricity instead of candle. I like it.”
Main image by Zhengfei Wang
