Year of the Snake

I do not expect a celebration of Australia Day in any other country, beyond perhaps a BBQ in the courtyard of the local Australian Embassy. Certainly not through the middle of Beijing.

So can someone please tell me why the City of Sydney Council is paying for a Chinese New Year Parade snaking its way through the main street of Sydney? I mean no disrespect to the wonderful Australian Chinese community who I suspect were not even the force behind it. That would go to Clover Moore and the other "City of Villages" ideologues.

The gays have a parade. Now the Chinese do as well. Where is the parade for the rest of us, who'd like to man the Julia Gillard float?

I can guarantee that any suggestion of an all-inclusive "Australia Day Parade" along George Street would be immediately sneered at by our intellectuals as jingoism. What a shame that we are so embarrassed by our own culture.

The City of Sydney organisers on their website thank their partners, including the "Shenzhen Minicipal Bureau of Culture Sports and Toursim

Not sure if the website was made in China. This event does nothing for tourism. I'm pretty sure Chinese don't travel to Australia to witness its Chinese parade.