Special Report: Spring Festival Special 2009

     YANGON, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese dragon dance competition began on Friday afternoon at a supermarket here to pre-celebrate the fall of the Chinese lunar New Year.

    The three-day competition at the Capital Hyper Market, which is the first of its kind, is participated in by six amateur dragon dancing groups and the contest will last until Sunday, the eve of the new year, a supermarket event organizer said.

    Old-aged well-experienced dragon dancers will act as the judges of the competition, he noted, adding that the first prize winning group will be awarded with 1 million Kyats (about 870 U.S. dollars), while the second 500,000 Kyats and the third 300,000 Kyats.

    Meanwhile, Myanmar-Chinese residing in the Chinatown area in Myanmar's biggest city of Yangon will also hold the fourth traditional lion dance competitions beginning Monday, the 1st day of the lunar calendar year, and a big festive march of 10 participating lion dancing groups around the Chinatown will take place on Sunday afternoon, the eve of the new year.

    Scheduled to be held in the heart of Chinatown, the series of lion dance competitions will last for four consecutive nights until next Thursday.

    These groups include Sky Lion, Golden Lion, Youth Silver Lion, Ever Shine Lion and Dragon Lion.

    The first and second prize-winning dancing groups will repeat their wonderful performances to the satisfaction of the audiences on Jan. 30 when the prize presentation ceremony is to be held to mark the end of the event.