Chinese New Year Celebrations Around Thailand Celebrating 36 Years of Thai-Chinese Relations

BANGKOK, Jan. 25, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Sino-Thai trade and cultural ties span the centuries. In times past, sea-farers, marine merchants and traders sailed up the kingdom's rivers with vessels laden with merchandise and precious goods including Chinese tea, silk and fine porcelain. As trade between the two countries flourished, permanent settlements of peoples of various ethnic Chinese origin were soon established. While the early settlers quickly adapted to their new way of life and adopted Thai ways, they also continued to maintain strong cultural ties and practiced the customs and traditions diligently observed by their forefathers. Of these, the celebration of the Chinese New Year remains the most important of annual festivals on the Chinese lunar calendar observed in the various regions of Thailand.

Festive celebrations are typically staged in areas where there is a significant Thai-Chinese community such as the Yaowarat district in Bangkok and in the provinces of Suphan Buri, Ayutthaya, Chon Buri (Pattaya district) and Ratchaburi in Central Thailand, Nakhon Ratchasima in Northeastern Thailand, Nakhon Sawan (Pak Nam Pho) and Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand, Songkhla (Hat Yai district) and Phuket in Southern Thailand.

While a variety of contemporary elements have been incorporated through the passage of time, Chinese New Year celebrations throughout Thailand are a reminder of the rich cultural and artistic legacy and wealth of history preserved in these 'living museums'.

CHINESE NEW YEAR CELEBRATIONS IN BANGKOK  

• THAI-CHINESE CULTURAL FESTIVAL AT THE THAILAND CULTURAL CENTER  Celebrating 36 years of Thai-Chinese relations

February 1, 2011/ 15.00 and 19.00 To mark the 36th anniversary of the establishment of Thai-Chinese relations, cultural performances will be presented at the Thailand Cultural Center at 15.00 and 19.00.  

• CHINESE NEW YEAR FESTIVAL AT CENTRAL WORLD

February 3, 2011 Thailand's Minister of Tourism and Sports and the Minister of Culture of the People's Republic of China (PRC) will jointly lead festive activities commencing with a formal exchange of New Year wishes. Spectacular cultural presentations by performers from the PRC are among the many highlights of the Chinese New Year celebrations at CentralWorld.  

• BANGKOK CHINATOWN CHINESE NEW YEAR FESTIVAL 2011

February 3, 2011 The presentation of Chinese art and culture and a dazzling range of cultural performances and live entertainment, the eternally popular highlights of each and every Yawarat Chinatown Chinese New Year celebration, will be staged in front of the throne hall (Phra Tinang) at Odeon Circle on Yawarat Road.

For more information about the Chinese New Year celebrations in other parts of Thailand, please visit http://www.tatnews.org/events/events/2011/feb/5244.asp

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SOURCE Tourism Authority of Thailand