The Isle of Man Chinese Association would like to wish a happy new year to all island residents in the run-up to Chinese New Year on Monday (February 8).
Chairman of the association Jenny Zhou said: ‘Welcome and best wishes to the 2016 Lunar New Year and the Year of the Monkey celebration from the Isle of Man Chinese Association!
‘The Chinese New Year celebrations are centuries old and are the most important of traditional Chinese holidays.
‘It is seen as a time for bringing families together for feasting and much celebration, and it is so important that many of our Chinese community have returned to China to join family and friends.’
Jenny said that, as many of the Isle of Man Chinese community are with family, traditional celebrations for the New Year of the Monkey will take place at a later date.
The association has been invited to attend the four-day Chinese New Year celebrations in Manchester, which include traditional Chinese street food markets, a lantern and dragon parade, lion dancers and live music, starting from today (Thursday).
Jenny said it was a ‘great honour’ to attend the event and she will be representing the island with her partner Stu Allen and Mayor of Douglas Sara Hackman, Mayoress Carol Malarkey and patron of the association Geoff Corkish MLC and his wife.
Mr Corkish has also been invited to speak at the main banquet of the celebrations which will be attended by the chairman of the UK Chinese Association Stewart Yip.
The association was formed in 2013 and last month it started new mandarin lessons at Ramsey Grammar School.