PHOTO: EPAFrom lion dances to parades to markets, communities far and wide are celebrating the Lunar New Year
By Andy Goldberg, Bronwyn Sloan, Fiona Smith, Dewi Kurniawati
DPA, CORK, IRELAND, JAKARTA, INDONESIA, LOS ANGELES, PHNOM PENH
Saturday, Feb 02, 2008,
Ho Chin Seng watches carefully as his Cambodian lion dancers, or mong sy, go through their paces at Tuen Fah Chinese School and Temple in the Cambodian capital.
"We are booked to dance for Sok Kong in a few days," he says, referring to Cambodia's leading petroleum tycoon. Seng's troupe is also a favorite with Senate President Chea Sim and Prime Minister Hun Sen.
Seng, of Chinese-Malaysian descent is in his early 40s and has been in Cambodia for a decade teaching lion dancing and other cultural arts.
Cambodia comes to a virtual halt during the Lunar New Year festival. Although it is not an official government holiday, Chinese roots run deep here and bosses are rarely angry when staff go to perform traditional New Year tasks - in fact, they usually do so too.
"Cambodia and China are strong allies, but also, most Cambodians have Chinese relatives or at least have a Chinese connection," says government spokesman Khieu Kanharith.
Although Cambodia will celebrate its own New Year in April, its zodiac mirrors the Chinese zodiac. Last year, the auspicious Year of the Golden Pig, Cambodian hospitals reported a significant increase in pregnancies and births.
By Andy Goldberg, Bronwyn Sloan, Fiona Smith, Dewi Kurniawati
DPA, CORK, IRELAND, JAKARTA, INDONESIA, LOS ANGELES, PHNOM PENH
Saturday, Feb 02, 2008,
Ho Chin Seng watches carefully as his Cambodian lion dancers, or mong sy, go through their paces at Tuen Fah Chinese School and Temple in the Cambodian capital.
"We are booked to dance for Sok Kong in a few days," he says, referring to Cambodia's leading petroleum tycoon. Seng's troupe is also a favorite with Senate President Chea Sim and Prime Minister Hun Sen.
Seng, of Chinese-Malaysian descent is in his early 40s and has been in Cambodia for a decade teaching lion dancing and other cultural arts.
Cambodia comes to a virtual halt during the Lunar New Year festival. Although it is not an official government holiday, Chinese roots run deep here and bosses are rarely angry when staff go to perform traditional New Year tasks - in fact, they usually do so too.
"Cambodia and China are strong allies, but also, most Cambodians have Chinese relatives or at least have a Chinese connection," says government spokesman Khieu Kanharith.
Although Cambodia will celebrate its own New Year in April, its zodiac mirrors the Chinese zodiac. Last year, the auspicious Year of the Golden Pig, Cambodian hospitals reported a significant increase in pregnancies and births.
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