The Chinese New Year celebrations were bigger than ever this past weekend in Southside!

Birmingham Hippodrome co-produced the jam-packed Chinese New Year festival with the Chinese Festival Committee with an incredible 30,000 people enjoying Sunday’s festival activities. More than 3,000 people also passed through our doors to enjoy a range of free activities in celebration of the Year of the Dog. This included Posca calligraphy workshops, craft workshops, auditorium tours, Royal Birmingham Conservatoire performances in our Patrick Studio and a special up-close look at a selection of Birmingham Royal Ballet’s costumes.

On the main festival stage, just outside the Hippodrome square, the audience was treated to a specially created performance of Rosie Kay Dance Company’s Modern Warrior. Fast-paced danced martial arts sequences met traditional Chinese dance in this visual spectacular.

Elsewhere in the Chinese Quarter, there was traditional street food on offer and unique market stalls selling a range of home-made gifts and trinkets. There was also a funfair and stilt walking performances throughout the day.

The whole festival saw 30,000 people throughout Sunday and 40,000 over the full three days of celebrations, which included a concert in Birmingham Cathedral and pop-up performances in the Bullring, Selfridges and Grand Central.

Graham Callister, Associate Director at Birmingham Hippodrome, said: “The festival this year saw a significant expansion of artistic endeavour across the city centre from Birmingham Cathedral to Bullring and Grand Central, all culminating in a fantastic celebration yesterday here in Southside, the heart of the Chinese community.

“Thousands of families enjoyed our free foyer activities here at Birmingham Hippodrome and thousands more enjoyed free performances by Royal Conservatoire students, Rosie Kay Dance Company and of course the amazing lion and dragon dances among many other acts.

We were delighted with the response and role as co-producer of this important cultural event for the city, and can’t wait to start planning an even bigger and better event in 2019 with the Chinese Festival Committee.”