Both lions and dragons figure in New Year's Parades and other celebrations throughout the year. The Chinese Lion Dance goes back some one thousand years. The first record of the performance of an early form of the Lion Dance dates to the early Ch'in and Han Dynasties (Third Century B.C.) The lions express joy and happiness. From the fourth day to the fifteenth of the New Year, lion dance groups would tour from village to village in traditional China.

The Lion Dance also plays an important role in the consecration of temples and other building, at business openings, planting and harvest times, official celebrations, and religious rites.

Chinese Lion Dancers