Tens of thousands of people showed up in Sydney's central district to welcome the Year of the Sheep on Sunday, with a parade that involved more than 3,000 community performers and entertainers flown in from Taiwan, Korea and China.

The city council touted the Sydney Chinese New Year Twilight Parade as the largest Chinese New Year celebration outside the mainland. It also featured more than 150 performers from Beijing, Shaanxi and Sichuan in China.

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Festival creative director Gill Minervi mixed the parade with street flame throwers, fireworks and artistic light on city buildings.

The opening performance celebrated the part of Chinese shepherds in the early days of the wool industry in Australia. A five-meter merino sheep, named Wisdom, which cast light in the evening, followed the performance.

The performers gathered at George Street and Goulburn Street and made their way through the packed streets of Chinatown before wrapping up at the Chinese Gardens in Darling Harbour.

On Sunday night, Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore told the crowds at the festival that it would be the last parade along George Street because the road would be closed to make way for the construction the city's new rail network.

Moore said the diversity of Chinese Australian communities was represented, with crowds of local Fujian, Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou people in the celebrations.

Various groups dressed up as signs of the Chinese zodiac including the Rooster and the Pig. The event ended with a fireworks display over the skies of Cockle Bay Wharf near Darling Harbour.

TagsLunar New Year, Year of the Sheep