LIMEHOUSE GLORIES

Greymouth Evening Star, 3 April 1929, Page 8

LIMEHOUSE GLORIES

CHINESE FESTIVAL LAPSED.

LONDON, February 10. _ Last night was New Year’s Eve in' China, but in Limehouse, the Chinese quarter of London, there was haidly any celebration of the festival. The change that has come about at Pennyfields) was told yesterday ya Chinaman who has lived in Limehouse “There were 3,000 Chinamen in the Chinese quarter of London once. Now there are scarcely 300. Many have died, many have gone away, and their places have not been filled. v “Before the war the New Year was , heralded by fireworks and Chinese dinners. A single family would spend as much as £lOO on fireworks, and the quarter generally would pay as much as £l,OOO for the celebrations. “Thousands of people from the West End flocked to Limehouse in motorcars to see the celebrations. “The evening started with a good meal of chicken, duck, pork, mushrooms, oysters, fish, and three other dishes. All were laid on the table together, and the meal commenced at 8 p.m. The jollification went on sometimes until 2 in the morning. A meal for four people would cost about £6. . “This practice ceased about 1915, was continued again after the Armistice for one year, and has never been held since. A police permit was necessary for the fireworks. “The reasons why. the custom stopped were: (1) That the Chinese here are reverting to the English New Year, owing to the Westernising of our ideas; (2) the Chinese are too poor now to afford such celebrations; (3) there were numerous objections owing to the danger to-property; and (4) it caused too great a. crowd and obstruction.”