00:00A new year for Chinese-Australians, and in Darwin, a special ceremony.
00:12With just days to go until China's Lunar New Year, the Chung Wah Society's lion dancers
00:21are busy practising their routine.
00:23Two yawns, second yawn, get up lion boys, and beat, nine long bows to the front.
00:29To mark Chinese New Year, Darwin's lion dancers bless hundreds of businesses around the city
00:35to bring good luck and ward off evil spirits.
00:39The interesting fact with the street blessing is that out of all the shops we do, which
00:43is well over 300 shops, 80% are non-Chinese.
00:47People sort of treat us like local celebrities a little bit.
00:50Like when they see us walking around and they see our yellow shirt, they'll notice us and
00:54point us out.
00:55The history of Chinese lion dancing dates back thousands of years, to the early days
01:00of imperial China, as far back as 200 BC.
01:04Here in Darwin, that tradition has continued, and it's not for the faint-hearted.
01:09It's physically straining, definitely.
01:12A community and cultural exercise steeped in tradition, with dancers trained from primary
01:18school age.
01:19It's really important to remind the younger generation of what the culture is, so it doesn't
01:25get forgotten.
01:26Good luck for the new year, as we see out the year of the dragon.
01:30Goodbye to the dragon, and hello to the year of the snake.
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