Skip to content

Coronavirus fears put damper on Chinese New Year celebrations in Aberdeen

Chinese New Year is the most important holiday for local Chinese immigrants, but fears over the spread of coronavirus put a damper on celebrations in Richmond.
Coronavirus fears put damper on Chinese New Year celebrations in Aberdeen _0
Aberdeen Centre in Richmond continued to hold multiple events to celebrate the Chinese New Year on Friday, Jan. 24 and Saturday, Jan. 25. Photo submitted

Chinese New Year is the most important holiday for local Chinese immigrants, but fears over the spread of coronavirus put a damper on celebrations in Richmond.

As Chinese health experts suggest people in China stay home for the holiday to minimize the spread of coronavirus, some local residents also took the message to heart. 

Aberdeen Centre in Richmond held multiple events to celebrate the Chinese New Year on Friday, Jan. 24 and Saturday, Jan. 25, including a live countdown to the New Year of the Rat, a lion dance and a Cantonese opera performance. 

Joey Kwan, director of public relations at Aberdeen Centre, said she saw about 10 per cent fewer people for the Chinese New Year’s Eve celebrations on Friday. She estimated another five-per-cent dip in visitors for Saturday’s event. 

Kwan added the decline in visitors might be related to a variety of reasons.

“It might be that Friday night was raining hard or if people are worried about the coronavirus.”

In addition, Aberdeen Centre has also taken some precautions.

“We did order some masks on the countdown night. If anybody forgot to bring their own, we could still provide them with that,” said Kwan, adding that they also put hand sanitizer at each entrance. 

Kwan said she sent messages to event performers to tell them if they didn’t feel comfortable, they could choose not to come. 

However, none of the performances were cancelled.

The first case of coronavirus has been confirmed in B.C. A male resident in his 40s from the Vancouver Coastal Health region who was recently in Wuhan, China, tested positive for the coronavirus.