The City of Sydney council's decision to rename next year's Chinese New Year festival to the Lunar New Year festival will "benefit the entire community," a Vietnamese community leader told SBS Vietnamese.
The council announced that it would rename the festival, which was first held in Sydney's Chinatown 22 years ago, despite a call from the Chinese community for further consultation.
Paul Nguyen, President of the NSW chapter of the Vietnamese Community in Australia, believes the council made the right decision.
"It's great news for us because the Vietnamese community celebrates the Lunar New Year every year during the same period," he said.
"From the point of view of Chinese New Year, I understand that it originated in China a long time ago, but there are countries in South-East Asia who celebrate the same new year, which happens to be the Lunar calendar, which we call Lunar New Year.
"To change the name makes other cultures and communities feel more inclusive. It better reflects the reality that we are celebrating the same event during the same period of time."
The council said renaming next year's event, which runs from February 1-10, was part of its agenda to "expand" the festival.
Sydneysiders enjoy lanterns and decorations to celebrate the Chinese New Year during a Lantern Festival at Tumbling Park Source: AAP
"The Sydney Lunar Festival will embrace all communities and cultures, whether or not they use the lunar calendar, and create new opportunities for the event’s further development," the statement to SBS Mandarin read.
"The city is consulting with multiple Consulate Generals in Sydney, and a wide range of cultural and community representatives from Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese, Thai, Indonesian, and Malaysian communities."
Mr Nguyen called for other states to follow suit.
Sydney Vietnamese man Anthony Ngo formed a petition in 2015 calling for the name to be changed.
The petition received more than 2000 signatures, but the council didn't proceed with any action.
He said the community was "overwhelmed" by the council's latest decision.
"Year after year for so long, I thought it had been forgotten and nobody would care to do anything anymore," he said.
"We don't have to stay home or going to other areas to celebrate Lunar New Year anymore. We can now go to the city and feel that we are welcome to celebrate the event, in a more inclusive way."
However, Chinese community leader in Sydney Simon Chan raised concerns that the change would harm the event's historical significance.
People admire displays at the Chinese New Year Lantern Festival in Tumbling Park in Darling Harbour. Source: AAP
The Haymarket Chamber of Commerce president, who used to sit on the Chinese New Year Advisory Panel, said further consultation was needed.
"I advised that there should have been much more extensive consultation and the history of the Chinese community’s initiative and the establishment of the Chinese New Year Festival should be acknowledged."
