Making bao buns and lucky foods - What Lunar New Year means to families in Cambridge

Ann Yip spoke to families and joined the Lunar New Year celebrations in Cambridge

A young girl in a Qing dynasty-style vest, and with blue cotton candy stains on her face, proudly says she is Chinese, French and English.

For her mother Dr Gao Jie, Lunar New Year still evokes powerful memories of celebrations with her late grandmother in Henan, China.

"I really miss my family. I miss my grandma because we always made food together," she told ITV Anglia.

"We made dumplings together, we made buns together and my grandma is the best at making buns with the shape of snakes and the shape of dragons."

"But I'm so happy I have my own family now," she said holding onto young Vivian-Louise.

For Dr Gao Jie, the celebrations by Cambridge Chinese Community Centre on Sunday were about paying tribute to her former home, and passing on family traditions to her daughter and French husband Pierre Boesch.

Kasy Chong Wang, from the Jiangxi province, still fondly remembers the dumplings, chicken and whole fish she had as a child during Lunar New Year. They are all foods meant to bring luck.

The mother-of-two now lives in Cambridge and tries to recreate those traditions for her two British-Chinese children and English husband Andrew.

Being able to celebrate the Spring Festival in the city makes her feel accepted and welcomed.

She said: "To be able to put the Chinese decorations outside my house, and passing some little red dragons to my neighbours, and give some dumplings to my neighbours to share our celebrations, it just means happiness."

Ning Xiao, who came from Chongqing, wants her daughter Lindsay to know about the New Year traditions that were a huge part of her childhood.

"It reminds me of all the good memories, all the times that you grew up as a child," she said.

"You get new clothes and you get red envelopes from different relatives and you get the whole pocket money for the whole year."

Lunar New Year, celebrated by many East and South East communities, is the biggest event in the lunar calendar - said to be as big as Christmas.

Known as the Spring Festival in Chinese, it traditionally lasts 15 days.

Adults exchange greetings, mostly centered around good luck and fortune, while children get money instead of presents.

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