Lunar New Year at Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Garden

Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Garden in Vancouver’s Chinatown hosts Chinese New Year celebrations at Lunar New Year with various activities and live performances.

In 2025 the event runs on February 2nd. Until a few years ago, admission was by donation at Lunar New Year. This year, however, there is a small standard fee.

The Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Garden is a not-for-profit attraction. Proceeds from the annual event help fund maintenance and other programs and workshops.

Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Garden’s Lunar New Year Event

Lunar New Year, also called Chinese New Year by people of Chinese descent, is celebrated all around the world. This year, Lunar New Year is on Wednesday, January 29th. 2025 marks the year of the Snake according to the Chinese Zodiac.

Many Lunar New Year celebrations happen in Metro Vancouver each year including Lunarfest, the Chinese New Year Parade, celebrations at International Village Mall and more. There are also special activities at the Chinese Canadian Museum. Another popular way to ring in the New Year is by visiting Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Garden in Chinatown. The beautiful oasis in downtown Vancouver hosts an annual event full of fun things to see and do.

The 2025 Lunar New Year Festival features arts and crafts, traditional food and performances. There is also a money tree demonstration and tea ceremonies. The event runs from 11:30 am until 5:00 pm on February 2nd.

Admission on this day is discounted compared to the regular price of visiting the gardens. It costs about $10 for adults, around $8 for children ages 5 to 12 and is free for kids younger than that.

The schedule for the Sunday in 2025 is the following:

11:30 pm – Doors Open
12:00 pm – Lucky Couplets Calligraphy, Tea Ceremonies and Nian Gao Demonstrations
12:30 pm – Guzheng Performances
1:30 pm – Money Tree Demonstration
3:00 pm – Lion Dance Performance

Throughout the event from 11:30 am to 5:00 pm there are also arts & crafts at the China Maple Hall and a food corner at the Hall of One Hundred Rivers.

WALKING TOURS IN CHINATOWN

If you want to learn about Chinatown and Chinese history in Vancouver, then we highly recommend Historical Chinatown Tours with Judy Lam Maxwell. We went on one of the tours and were really impressed! It was very interesting, informative and fun. On our tour we also went to a restaurant in Chinatown for dim sum. It was delicious!

To learn more about the tours see our article about Historical Chinatown Tours (where you’ll also see a video which will show you a bit about what you can expect).

Lunar New Year Events in the Past

In the past, prior to the era of COVID, the Lunar New Year event at Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Garden was called the Temple Fair. It was similar to the weekend event in 2025, but with a different name.

Prior to 2019, the attraction also hosted a special multi-day event called Lanterns in the Garden. It ran for about three weeks starting around the Lunar New Year. The photo above shows what one of the Lanterns in the Garden displays looked like in 2018. It was a very interesting event.

Chinese Lantern Exhibit at Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Garden