PARISIANS ADOPT THE CHINESE NEW YEAR'S DAY PARADE

COVID BROUGHT ANTI-ASIAN RACISM... 

    2:55 PM 27 Jan. 2020 from Paris, France

...but the 13th's growing support for the New Year's celebration show it insignificant, at least there. For example:  

• A Franprix superette had this decor in 2015...

Rue Nationale

...and in 2024 posted an announcement on its web site to promote a range of Asian products :

"Chinese New Year: Discover our selection of products"

 Rue Ponscarme (five minutes away from rue National, but still in the "French" neighborhood) 

 

• The library

• The mall

• City Hall sponsored two weeks of events. 

# # #

The public

• The evening before New Year, kids (mostly Asian but also French) saluted it with costumes, banners and drums in front of a Chinese optician's store on the border of the Asian and French neighborhoods, enthralling passers-by:

 Corner rues de Tolbiac / Château des Rentiers

• Next day, that of the parade, French and Asian restaurants filled the Asian restaurants, even when away from the parade route. This one, just beyond it, took no reservations and there was a 20-minute wait to get in:

• A crowd lined up in the rain to watch the parade, two hours before it began.

   Corner rue de Tolbiac / avenue de Choisy

People waiting under umbrellas

suggest that racism, at least here, has lost its hold.

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Next,

That parade, unique in Europe