Millions of people across the world are celebrating Chinese New Year as they welcome the Year of the Pig.
The Lunar New Year, known also as the Spring Festival, starts on Tuesday and is celebrated in countries across the globe.
Pictures of celebrations in Asia show large firework displays and streets lined with lanterns to mark the occasion.
Landmarks such as the Sydney Opera House were lit up in red lights to celebrate.
Dancers were also seen performing the “Liong” at a temple in Bali, Indonesia, as celebrations commenced.
Worshippers gathered at temples to pray and light incense during the festivities.
Chinese people have also taken part in the biggest annual migration to their hometowns in preparation for the celebrations.
The pig, one of the 12 zodiac signs related to the Chinese New Year, is a symbol of optimism and enthusiasm.
It is also a sign of being hardworking.
As well as across Asia, the occasion is one celebrated in London and many other cities across the globe.
Stunning archive images have shown how London’s Chinese New Year celebrations have become one of the world’s biggest annual attractions.
Organisers said the UK capital’s festivities are the biggest outside China itself.
This year’s celebration in London’s China Town will take place on Sunday.
Lawrence Lee, of the London Chinatown Chinese Association, said the first celebrations in the 1970s centred around a single stage in Chinatown and attracted a few thousand people.
By comparison, an estimated 700,000 descended on Soho last year.
Dr Lee, who has been on the association’s Chinese New Year organising committee since 1991, told the Standard: “It grew and we moved it to Leicester Square, and since 2003 it has been in Trafalgar Square. It’s jam-packed. You can barely walk now.
“The London celebrations are the biggest in the world outside China. Chinese culture is well accepted here, and a lot of Chinese people are now coming to the UK from the mainland. These influences have helped it grow.”
