Sharjah24 – AFP: Dragons and firecrackers take over DC's Chinatown as part of the Lunar New Year parade, after a two-year hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic, with traditional dances and martial arts peformances welcoming in the Year of the Rabbit.

Commenting on this, Wallace Lee, member of the planning committee of the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association which organizes the parade stated, "This is our first year back since the Covid pandemic, so we're pretty happy about that. They don't have as many groups, we still have 40 groups which is pretty large. Back before Covid, we had at least 60, I think close to 60 groups I think at one point."

Muriel Bowser, Mayor of Washington, DC added, "It is important for us to not only celebrate where we are, to look back over the last couple of years and congratulate ourselves for our resilience, for sticking with our neighbors, for standing up against Asian hate anywhere we see it, anywhere we hear it, any place in the world."