Not even the lashing rain could stop crowds who gathered in their thousands at in Chinatown on Sunday to witness the extremely vibrant and lively Chinese New Year celebrations.
Welcoming the Year of the Snake, local families and students joined the Chinese community at the spectacular parades and demonstrations that took place in the city centre.
Children who went along to the parades with their parents relished the parade of drums and dragons, taking full advantage of the market stalls and buying plenty of souvenirs.
A dragon, unicorn and lion dance marched through the streets and photographer Raymond Condwell, who attends the festival every year, managed to capture some shots of the day.
He told JMU Journalism: “I have been to the Liverpool and Manchester festival a few times and I love it. It’s the colours that make it so great.”
Despite how busy the streets of Liverpool were today, the magnitude of the festival would not compare to celebrations in Beijing or Hong Kong.
Yuan Zhang, a student studying finance in Liverpool said that in China there are a lot more private parties. He told JMU Journalism: “In China most of the people stay at home, and eat food and visit family members or go to temples and celebrate.”
Zhang and his friends have been making the most of the options available to them in Liverpool by cooking dinner on Saturday, and having traditional Chinese dumplings, just like how they do back home.
After this weekend’s popular events of Tai Chi demonstrations, art exhibitions and of course the dragon dance, it is clear that the Liverpool people and those involved in other Chinese New Year celebrations across the globe are looking forward to the Year of the Snake.
Additional reporting by Sanna Zahid