I was pleased to be invited by the Chinese Students' and Scholars' Association to the Grand Opera House to see the Chinese New Year Gala - as a result of arranging for the film Lust Caution to be shown at City Screen as part of the celebrations. The film will be shown on 9 February which is the day of the Lantern Festival and marks the end of the Chinese New Year festivities.

Friday's Chinese New Year Gala kicked off with dragons dancing and fighting, spilling off the stage into the audience in the stalls. Such fearsome beasts, we felt safer up in the circle. At the end of an exhausting routine, the dragons 'ate' a cabbage each and regurgitated it onto the stage and into the stalls in the form of chopped coleslaw. Impressive but mystifying.

Next to take the stage was The Honorable, The Lord Mayor of York, Councillor Brian Watson, making a quip about stepping through chopped cabbage as he did so. The Lord Mayor offered a greeting in Chinese and thanked the students for their hard work in arranging the gala.

The remainder of the evening was introduced by four 'emcees' who took turns in speaking Chinese and English to welcome pop singers, children from the York Chinese School, and a full church choir.

A Tibetan singer garnered much applause, and we even had a display by Kung Fu Masters - all Westerners it be noted - this evening was inclusive through and through.

My personal highlights were the extracts of Beijing Opera and the quartet which involved piano, violin, guitar and accordian.

Looking forward to next year already. Wishing you peace and prosperity in this, the Year of The Ox.