The City and the Chinese Chamber of Commerce kicked off the three weeks of celebration with a press conference at Honolulu Hale.

A traditional lion dance gave the Mayor a chance to ensure his continued good luck in the New Year of the Ox. It is said that people actually born in a year of the Ox become confident leaders. "Everybody now has added significance to the year of the Ox," said the Mayor, "because our President-elect Obama is an Ox".

Since 2006 the City and County has partnered with Chinatown leaders to make these celebrations happen. And as the current Narcissus Queen Catherine Jayne explains, "You learn so much more about your culture and participating in these many different events, celebrating and feeling proud to be Chinese."

First up is the Narcissus Queen Pageant at the Hawaii Theatre this Saturday evening.

"We have 11 lovely girls that will be vying for the title of the Narcissus Queen and the Court," said Jeff Lau of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, "and that'll be selected this Saturday. The young women have duties throughout the year including touring with us through China for three weeks next summer."

"We went to 17 cities in 11 days," says the current Queen, "and we got to visit with many different cities in China but especially Zonghshan which is a sister city to Honolulu."

About 200 tickets for the Narcissus Queen Pageant are still available for 28 dollars each at the Hawaii Theatre Box Office.

The new Queen will be crowned at a Coronation Ball in the Tapa Ballroom at the Hilton Hawaiian Village on Saturday January 17th. Tickets for that start at 65 dollars and are available from the Chinese Chamber of Commerce.

"The Coronation Ball is really special this year," Jeff Lau pointed out, "because we're bringing back 60 years of past presidents and 40 years of prior Narcissus Queens."

The climax of the Chinese New Year Celebrations is an all day block party on Maunakea Street on Saturday January 24th. And at 4pm that same day there will be a parade along Hotel street starting at the State Capitol and ending in Chinatown.

For more information on all the Chinese New Year events, click here.

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