China Now
China Now was the UK’s biggest festival celebrating Chinese culture. It began in February 2008 to mark the Chinese New Year. In the first half of 2008, the festival organized more than 1,300 events, performances and activities, showcasing art, design, cuisine, culture, science, business, education and sport.
The goal was to share China’s heritage and its modern, vibrant culture, and to build partnerships between artists, schools, businesses and communities across the UK and China. As a non-profit initiative, China Now aimed to create lasting links between the two countries.
China Now was created by the business community and chaired by Stephen Green, Group Chairman of HSBC. It was supported by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, the Chinese Ambassador to the UK, Fu Ying, and the British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, along with its sponsors. In 2007, Stephen Green said the festival would bring the best of modern China to the UK between the Chinese New Year and the Beijing Olympics, and Fu Ying added that it would help the UK understand contemporary China.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 05:13 (CET).