Australia is home to more than 481,000 people of Chinese descent, and this year more than a million people were expected to attend the Chinese New Year celebrations in Sydney. One of this year’s highlights includes the Chinese New Year Lantern Festival.

The Lantern Festival is one of several events held across Sydney this year to mark the festival. Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull was on hand to officially kick off this year's lantern festival. Some of these lanterns were made in southwest China’s Sichuan Province and took technicians four days to assemble. There's also a five-storey-high replica of the Forbidden City gates, as well as music and performers.

Sydney’s mayor has also boasted about the celebration. "Sydney's very proud of the fact that we have the biggest celebration of the Lunar New Year, the Chinese New Year, outside Asia. And it's something that has grown from a very small community event - 21 years ago - to be this very large event. And people come from all around the world, especially from Asia, to celebrate with us," said Clover Moore, Sydney's lord mayor.

Last year, about 1.3 million people attended Sydney’s Chinese New Year Festival, making it the city's third largest annual event.