Announcement:- China In London 2007

[Koneko]

London is going to host a series of cultural events (Yes, everything Chinese) from this week towards the end of March 2007! Major events include Shanghai Week, Beijing 2008 Olympics & Sculpture Exhibition, Musuems, Chinese New Year Events, Arts Events, Exhibitions, Children's Events, Films and Food.

Most events are free, so if you're in London - don't miss out!

Thursday 15 February (lasts for a month)

Oxford Circus will be lit up with giant Chinese lanterns (first time in history?)

Sunday 18 February

Parade starts 11am in the Strand

Fireworks displays at 2pm & 5pm in Leicester Square.

Please visit China In London for more information.

K.

[guest1234]

Hi all

The lanterns are for the second year but its a nice touch.

18 th Feb Is Chinese new year.

The parade will start in the Strand near the Savoy Hotel at 11am. The route is

down the Strand to Trafalgar Square, Then up Charing Cross Road, ( passing chinatown )Then into Shaftesbury Ave Finishing in Rupert Street by 1pm.

While this is on at 12 noon in Trafalgar Square there will be thanks giving with local VIP's on a large stage. Then after that there is a program of acts from the UK and China until 5.30pm. ( singing, dancing and martial arts )

Two firework demo's at 2pm and 5pm in Leicester Square.

At 1200 in Chinatown there will be five lion dance teams visiting the premises in the area this will last till 6pm( four local teams and a team from China ) Due to the large visitor numbers there will be a one way system in place by 1.30pm ish in the Chinatown area. You will be able to enter the area via the Shaftesbury ave end but not by the Leicester square end.

Cheers

[Shadowdh]

Thanks for the info chaps... Bagua speak to you in the next day or so...

[adrianlondon]

Cool! I've just arrived back in London; nice to see I can get my China fix.

Compared to other cities I've visited, London's Chinatown is very small and doesn't seem to have much variety. Yes, we have some of the best dimsum in the world, and even after spending 6 months in Beijing I really missed the dimsum and crispy-pork-roast-duck-rice. However when in, say, Chinatown in Sydney, I could buy all sorts of baozi, jiaozi and also (important, as I'm addicted) bubble tea. London doesn't have this.

I was able to buy Taiwanese style huge baozi from Oriental City (Collindale) but I hear this shopping centre, with food court, is being demolished.

[Koneko]

However when in, say, Chinatown in Sydney, I could buy all sorts of baozi, jiaozi

No exactly true but I'm with you. I think there are quite a lot of Malaysian/ Singaporean restaurants in Australia.

Have you tried a type a Zhongzi called "Nonya Zhong"?

It can only be found in Malaysia and Singapore!

bubble tea. London doesn't have this.

Have you been to the one (Can't remember its name) next to Tokyo Diner, yes the one in Green, in front of the pavillion in Chinatown. They do bubble tea there.

Oriental City

I don't really like that place - it's so tacky.

K.

[adrianlondon]

Yeah, I've tried their bubble tea; but it's no good. And so expensive.

There isn't a place I know of which makes good bubble tea; I guess that's because hardly anyone orders it so they don't prepare the tapioca balls. I have sometimes thought about opening a bubble tea store, but I know that if I ever became successful that every other place in Chinatown will simply open their own stalls and, having created a market, I'd then go out of business.

Still, I drank close to one a day for 6 months in Beijing (we had a great bubble tea stall on campus at BNU), so I've had my fix for a while.

As for oriental city being tacky ... the food court was OK. Well, by OK I mean that London doesn't have asian food courts so anything is better than nothing. A few years ago, before the supermarket in that place became crap, it only sold Japanese stuff. I could buy all the diffwerent types of tuna for sushi/sashimi. Stupidly expensive, but very tasty.

[roddy]

I think there are enough of you Londoners for a Chinese-forums.com Lion Dancing Team. Let me know if you need any sponsorship.

[Koneko]

Ha ha.. We've already formed our very own Dragon Dance Team!

K.

[skylee]

To me, this is about the most attractive China-related event in London in 2007 -> The First Emperor

BTW, I think the 三星堆 discovery in Sichuan is also fascinating and the museum could consider an exhibition on this theme.

[Koneko]

Royal Academy of Arts also had something similar about two years ago.

The event was China: The Three Emperors

It received lots of good public reviews. Unfortunately, it's not on permanent basis.

K.

[Shadowdh]

I went to the 3 emperors exhibition and it was pretty good... my only regret (other than it going) was not setting aside enough time to get a good look...

You can bet your sweet heiny that I will be going to the terracotta warriors exhibition too...

[adrianlondon]

Oriental City is having New Year celebrations, although they seem to be doing it primarily as a way of protesting its imminent destruct... renovation.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/6367639.stm

[Shadowdh]

Well it looks like I wont be able to make it in this weekend... must go house hunting as it looks like the one we had will fall through... sigh...

[Koneko]

So guys, did you actually attend those events?

Were they good?

I was home during the New Year.

K.

[Shadowdh]

no unfortunately as the house hunting continues... hopefully the one we look at tomorrow will mean an end to it...I will also miss the terracotta warriors exhibit as I will actually be in china... oh well...