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ݐSydney is hoppingwith excitement ahead of Chinese New Year celebrations, with more than 600,000 locals and overseas visitors set to welcome the Year of the Rabbit.

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Year of the Rabbit gets Sydney hopping

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ݐThe four-footed furry creature, symbolising endurance, beauty, peace and hope, sits in fourth position on the Chinese calendar.

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ݐ"The Chinese New Year celebration really focuses on one of the major groups that live here, and they're very much a developing part of our Australian culture," Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore said on Thursday.

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ݐMore than 50 free festival events will be on offer from January 28 to February 13.

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ݐThe celebrations kick off on Friday evening at Belmore Park in the heart of Sydney's Asian community.

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ݐFestival markets, exclusive performances, fireworks and the best of local Asian cuisine will be available at the park.

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ݐThe City of Sydney has partnered with China's Hubei province to bring a fighting theme to this year's celebrations.

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ݐWudang, a form of martial artsfrom Hubei that featured in the worldwide film sensation, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, will feature prominently throughout the festival.

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ݐAbout 250 artists from Hubei will join more than 2500 local and international performers in the Chinese New Year twilight parade on February 6.

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ݐ"I think the parade is the highlight," Ms Moore said.

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ݐEnormous zodiaclanterns, exotic floatsand flamboyant dragons will make their way through the CBD, entertaining an estimated 100,000 onlookers.

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ݐOn February 12 and 13, the much-loved dragon boat races will see more than 3000 paddlers compete to the beat of a drum on Cockle Bay.

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ݐSydney's festival is the largest Chinese New Year celebration outside Asia and will include exhibitions, tours, sport, food and cinema.

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ݐTen percent of inner Sydneyresidents are of Chinese background, and Mandarin and Cantonese are the languages most spoken in Sydney households after English, Ms Moore said.

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ݐSydney councillor Robert Kok said the celebrations marked the beginning of a new lunar calendar and the conclusion of 2010 - the Year of the Tiger.

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ݐ"It is also a celebration of discarding old and bringing in new and celebrating the coming of new things," Mr Kok said at Thursday's launch.

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ݐ"You have to have new clothes and new shoes and everything's new in the house. So that does a lot for shopping."

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