The following pictures were taken during a Chinese New Year's parade in San Francisco, California. The theme of the parade was "Monkey King" - the year of the monkey.
Since I was interested in Monkey King as one of the greatest characters in Chinese literature, I wanted to see the parade. So I went to the city to see the splendour of Monkey King displayed on floats and in various character depictions.
[Note: click on the picture to see a larger image]
Mr. Wigowsky's Ancient Civilizations China Project - Monkey King
San Francisco's 2004 Chinese New Year Parade
This year's Chinese New Parade takes place on Saturday, February 7th, 5:30-8 p.m., rain or shine.
The Southwest Airlines Chinese New Year Parade in San Francisco is the largest celebration of its kind outside of Asia.
This year's theme is Year of the Monkey and highlights include elaborately decorated floats, school marching bands, martial arts group, stilt walkers, lion dancers, Chinese acrobatics, the newly crowned Miss Chinatown U.S.A. and the Golden Dragon ("Gum Lung").
The Golden Dragon is over 201 feet long, made with layers of silk, gauze and velvet which cover a bamboo frame. It's always featured at the end of the parade as the grand finale and will be accompanied by over 600,000 firecrackers.
Year of the Monkey, 2004 is
Year 4702 based on Chinese lunar calendar
GUNG HAY FAT CHOY ("Wishing you Prosperity")
