Sheffield Chinese Lunar New Year Festival founder aspires for it to be ‘biggest’ in the country

The founder of Sheffield’s Chinese Lunar New Year Festival has ambitions to make it the “biggest” event of its kind in the country.

Speaking to The Sheffield Tab at the festival’s Peace Gardens Lunar Fair on Saturday [1st February], Jerry Cheung said he aspired to make the event “even bigger and more inclusive”.

Hundreds of people had gathered in the city centre yesterday to watch the fair’s opening ceremony and to see a range of cultural performances take to the stage. Despite being founded in 2004, this is only the second year that events have taken place outdoors in the Peace Gardens.

Having moved to Sheffield from Hong Kong as a teenager in 1975, Cheung is Chairman of Sheffield Culture Inclusive and served as Managing Director for the city’s multicultural New Era Square development. He previously worked for British Steel, after graduating with an MBA in Engineering from the University of Sheffield.

Jerry Cheung delivering a speech a the fair’s opening ceremony (Image credit: @steelcitysnaps on X)

He explained his initial inspiration for starting for the festival was to help create “more understanding” about Chinese culture.

“Sharing culture helps to foster understanding,” he added. “That cultivates respect, inclusivity, and makes the society more harmonious.”

Alongside it’s wider Chinese community, Sheffield is home to approximately 8000 students from China. Cheung also said giving them an opportunity to celebrate in this way is a key motivator.

“They will miss their family, because Chinese New Year is like Christmas – it’s about family. You’re on your own, you’re in a foreign country, you’re more homesick than normal.

“To get a bit of Chinese New Year atmosphere helps a great deal.”

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One student volunteer, Low Zhia Wei, praised the festival for “showing people our culture and what New Year is like” and for “spreading happiness”.

Another, Cyrus Ko, added that he thought the celebrations would “bring people to Sheffield”.

Cheung also paid tribute to the event’s student volunteers, saying: “Without them, we can’t do it.”

Also working at Saturday’s fair was photographer and University of Sheffield MA graduate Yu Wang.

L-R: photographer Yu Wang, student volunteers Low Zhia Wei and Cyrus Ko

Yu – who moved from China to Sheffield to study in 2020 – said the event provided a “vital sense of belonging” for Chinese people in the region.

She added: “Sheffield has been my home for several years, and seeing the city embrace Chinese culture through this festival is deeply meaningful.

“The festival allows us to share our traditions and stories with a wider audience, while also experiencing the blending of Chinese and Western artistic expressions.”

Yu’s photography will be exhibited as part of this year’s final event – the Year of the Snake Spectacular Show – which is due to be held at the University of Sheffield’s Octagon Centre on February 10th.

Her collection will explore “cultural exchange” and the theme of “Chinese overseas identity and the sense of belonging”.

“I hope visitors will see how Chinese culture is not just preserved in the past but is something alive, adapting, and deeply connected to personal and collective experiences.”

The Lunar Fair’s opening ceremony took place outside the Town Hall on Saturday, with South Yorkshire Mayor Oliver Coppard and Lord Mayor of Sheffield Jayne Dunn in attendance.

Clockwise from top left: the local mayors at ribbon cutting ceremony, lion dancing on Fargate, and an international fashion show

Councillor Dunn said in her speech that the festival was an opportunity to “celebrate the diversity that enriches our community”.

The afternoon’s events included an international cultural fashion show and an International Championship Aerobatic Lion Dance performance.

The Peace Gardens Lunar Fair continues today [2nd February] from midday. The full schedule of events can be found here.

Featured image of Jerry Cheung by @steelcitysnaps on X.