Latin America celebrates Chinese Lunar New Year

Actors perform a dragon dance at the event in celebration of upcoming Chinese New Year in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Jan 30, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

Taste Chinese cuisine in Argentina

In Argentina's capital Buenos Aires, China's Ambassador Yang Wanming greeted top officials on Saturday, including Argentina's Vice President Gabriela Michetti and Buenos Aires Mayor Horacio Rodriguez Larreta at the National Parks plaza to celebrate the Chinese New Year.

The celebration, which used to take place at the city's famed China Town, has grown so popular that it had to be moved to a larger venue this year.

In 2011, some 15,000 people attended the celebration. By 2014, that number had soared to 450,000. This year, more fans of Chinese culture are expected to attend.

This weekend's open-air event featured Chinese music and dance, traditional opera, puppetry, martial arts and cuisine.

"It's a millennial tradition that we all celebrate," the city's Secretary of Sports Matias Lopez said.

One particularly popular stand called "Guidolab" served "molecular ice cream."

"They're delicious, I chose ginger cream," Yamila Dlugue, a local resident who was there with her mother and a friend, told Xinhua.

Each Chinese lunar year has one of the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac as its "mascot" and 2016 is the Year of the Monkey, the ninth animal sign in the zodiac, following the goat and preceding the rooster.