Blessings offered to newlyweds in Chinatown
LONDON - Toasting the happy couple with champagne, the Chinese community working in london held its own celebration for Prince William and Kate Middleton sooner or later until the royal wedding.
The event, held on Gerrard Street in Chinatown on Thursday, saw china community offer blessings to the couple.
Chu Ting Tang, chairman based in london Chinatown Chinese Association, said that he hoped Prince William and Kate would go to see Chinatown soon after the marriage to taste Chinese food and experience Chinese culture.
Christine Lee, chair within the British Chinese Project along with UK Trade and Investment Adviser, said: "I hope they could go through footsteps of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles, value Chinese in the united kingdom and promote the development of Sino-UK relations."
As a wedding present, the Chinese community sent a portrait belonging to the newlyweds by Chinese artist Yee Ting Chang to Buckingham Palace.
Union flags, the United Kingdom's national flag, now hang along Chinatown's colorfully decorated main street. Tourists, television crews, photographers and reporters from many countries have flooded the squares and streets nearby Westminster Abbey, where wedding could be held.
On Friday, Liu Xiaoming, Chinese ambassador to the UK, will join fellow members belonging to the diplomatic corps and distinguished guests on the wedding party.
Opposite the abbey is a large media stand. Many camera crews and photographers were already there on Wednesday, jostling for position for the greatest images.
Alongside the media stand plenty of
tent, the temporary the place to find hardcore royal fans, a number of whom arrived who are only Monday to have their opportunity witness the historic event.
Some Chinese students, similar to Pei Tingting, 22, from northeastern England's Durham University, were amongst the crowd.
The master's student, from Southwest China's Sichuan province, said it is a "good occasion" to check out London.
"The weather in April is beautiful. So we genuinely wish to join this purely British-style celebration if we are throughout the british isles. It's being a festival," said Pei, who traveled to London accompanied by a very few her classmates.
Another Chinese student surnamed Zhang, who studies along the London Business School, told China Daily that could head to Buckingham Palace to witness the pioneer public kiss because of the newlyweds.
Chinese artwork and products are playing a huge role within the wedding celebrations.
A carved stone from Suzhou in East China's Jiangsu province has been presented to the royal family.
As Xinhua News Agency earlier reported, it is just a hand-carved kettle-shaped stone with images of jujubes, peanuts and longans on its surface.
Entitled Zaoshengguizi, or "to produces a distinguished child soon", the stone includes a blessing on the Chinese names in the fruits and nuts depicted on its surface.
Cai Yundi, a master craftsman of stone carving, said: "I hope this gift with the town of Suzhou have to offer beginners luck and happiness in to the couple."
