This year's Sydney Chinese New Year Festival is the biggest celebration of the Chinese lunar new year outside of Asia, and the Year of the Dragon parades will feature Komodo Dragons as well as giant pandas.
Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore launched the 2012 festival with charity partner Taronga Zoo on Tuesday morning, with the zoo's resident giant Komodo Dragon, Tuka, in attendance.
Ms Moore said this year's festival partner city was Chengdu in Sichuan Province, an area in southwest China famous for its delicious spicy food and home to the giant black and white bears.
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"So you can expect a celebration of the panda also in this year's Chinese New Year," she told reporters in Sydney on Tuesday.
Ms Moore said the event demonstrated Sydney's multiculturalism.
"It celebrates our Asian community, our Chinese community, our Vietnamese and our Korean communities," she told reporters in Sydney on Tuesday.
"What our Chinese New Year does, it celebrates traditional Chinese culture plus cutting-edge arts and business events."
Three weeks of eye-catching and tantalising events featuring food, music, cinema and sports kicks off on January 20.
The highlight of the festival is the famous Twilight Parade on January 29, a dazzling parade of colour and light featuring almost 3000 performers.
Ms Moore said the Year of the Dragon was also a great opportunity to raise awareness for the plight of the endangered Komodo Dragon.
"The Year of the Dragon is the perfect opportunity to get to know Taronga's dragons, from the giant Komodo named Tuka, to the small eastern water dragons that roam wild in the Zoo grounds - all of which are under pressure in the wild," she said.
Ms Moore said a delegation of 160 performers, chefs and business leaders from Chengdu would make this year's Chinese New Year Festival Sydney's biggest, brightest and best yet.
The official festival launch celebration will be marked by a free event at Belmore Park on January 20.
