Hi there, it’s John again, back with an update on how the Chinese New Year celebrations have been going here in London.Sunday was the big day for Londoners who wanted to celebrate. They saw in the Year of the Rat with a traditional parade. As I mentioned in my last blog Sunday was the first in a series of events celebrating connections with Beijing and beyond, which will last until the Spring. More than 300,000 people are estimated to have joined the party, and the day began with a traditional parade of colourful dragons, lions, dancers and performers with people lining the streets to cheer on the cavalcade. Our colleagues at BBC London took some pictures on Sunday, and I thought you might like to see them.
Picture: Copyright BBC London 2007.
The celebration is the largest outside Asia, attracting people from all London's communities, as well as many thousands of visitors to the capital.
 Picture: Copyright BBC London 2007.The giant horoscopes in the centre of London were very popular. Picture: Copyright BBC London 2007.
The day was also marked by hourly displays of firecrackers and fireworks in Leicester Square. Picture: Copyright BBC London 2007.
Trafalgar Square's visiting artists included violinist Laure Chan... Picture: Copyright BBC London 2007. .. and the Beijing Dance Drama Opera House. Picture: Copyright BBC London 2007.For more picture go to our bbcchina.com.cn websitehttp://www.bbc.co.uk/china/learningenglish/specials/125_year_of_rat/The month long China in London Festival includes some of these highlights: At the Opera House is a UK-China hip hop music exchange featuring Dragon Tongue Squad, DJ Phat and Suki Mok, marking the first instalment of Chinatown Arts Space's Five Circles festival, an initiative promoting new and contemporary art forms. City Hall, where the local government in London is based, hosts the photographic exhibitions “Beijing - The Magnificent City” and “Women in 21st century China”, presented by The All China Women's Federation. There are free performances and activities for adults and families as part of the Victoria and Albert Museum's Chinese programme, leading up to the launch of China Design Now, an exhibition examining all aspects of contemporary Chinese design. One-off events, performances and masterclasses continue up to and beyond the China in London finale on Sunday 6 April when the Olympic Flame comes to London as part of the Beijing Olympic Torch Relay.Now back to movies! Quite a few of you have been talking more about the movies you like. It seems that horror movies are not very popular with all of you. Fantasy, romance and love stories are much more what you like from what you have been telling me.
Ju, you like the film Notting Hill. Yes, it’s a great movie, and it was a big success when it was shown here in the UK. Notting Hill is an area of London after which the film is named. The film was made there too, but there was something strange I noticed when I watched it. Notting Hill is a very, very expensive area to live. However, the characters in the movie were not that wealthy, which made me think how the film seemed rather unrealistic.
Now I’d like to ask you how much you believe the films that you see. What films do you trust and which films do you think portray inaccurate stories? I loved the story of Notting Hill, but I couldn’t help thinking that the film makers had chosen an interesting location with not enough thought about how honest a portrayal of the area they were creating. Let me know your thoughts.
Joan and Dream have provided me with some very good descriptions of their favourite films and of Hampden House which I mentioned last time. Let me have your ideas, thoughts, and queries, whatever your level of English.
One last thing I’d like you to think about. We have talked a lot about the Chinese New Year Celebrations in London, but I’d be very interested to find out from you if you think these celebrations outside China help the world in its understanding of your country.
Do we really get to know one another because of these celebrations, or, are there better ways of understanding each others cultures? How meaningful are the celebrations? That’s it for now. Bye. John.
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