Gallery: Chinese New Year opera in Bangkok

Chinese New Year celebrations continue in Bangkok, with the city’s Yaowarat neighborhood the scene of most of the action. In addition to acrobats and lion dances, you can find colorful Chinese operas. 

This year, actors from Guang Xi, China, are in town to perform the traditional musical dramas. Here’s a photographic look from backstage, as well as some of the other rituals taking place in Chinatown as Bangkok rings in the Year of the Rabbit. 

Chinese ethnic dancers wait backstage for their turn to perform during the Chinese New Year celebration in Chinatown.

A Thai man (R) places a candle in a water basin, where a statue of Buddha is reflected as people gather at a Chinese temple in Bangkok on the eve of the Lunar New Year.

Dancers show off balancing skills as they wait to go onstage. February 3 is the first day of the Chinese new year, ushering in the Year of the Rabbit, which astrologists say will be quiet and peaceful.

Chinese opera dates to the 3rd century. Bangkok's Thai-Chinese descendants keep the art alive by putting on regular performances in Chinatown.

In Bangkok, temples are rarely quiet or serene. Here, a Thai Buddhist monk uses a microphone to call on people gathering at a Chinese temple in Yaowarat.

A furry-headed dancer waits backstage during a Chinese opera performance in Bangkok.

Chinese New Year is widely celebrated in Thailand, where a large segment of the population has Chinese ancestors and takes part in elaborate ceremonies.

Chinese ethnic dancers Zhang Wei, Yao Min, Li Jinlin and Li Jiarong from Guang Xi, China, react as they watch a performance backstage.

A Thai food vendor pushes his cart through Chinatown, heavily decorated in red lanterns and Thai flags in celebration of the New Year.