Another the City of Sydney’s selling point of parties is Chinese New Year Festival, the largest outside Asia, they claim. Although the city does not have to try hard to reflect its multiculturalism, Chinese New Year Festival, which runs 1-24 February, is the biggest push to showcase the vibrant cultures of ethnic minorities. The parade is full of colourful oriental glitz and glamour and noisy drumbeat without firecrackers because of safety issues. The crowd is loving it. The streets are cleared almost immediately as if it never happened. Welcome to Chinese year of the rat, Sydney style.