Lion dancers threading through London’s Chinatown and swollen rivers bursting their banks in France framed a weekend of striking contrasts across Europe. From the vivid reds and golds of Chinese New Year celebrations in the British capital to the murky floodwaters inundating streets and fields on the other side of the Channel, photographers captured moments of joy, disruption and resilience. This collection from The Guardian brings together the most compelling images of the past few days, charting how communities marked festivity and confronted extreme weather in equal measure.
Celebrating Chinese New Year in London vibrant parades community stories and cultural highlights
As red lanterns sway above Soho and the aroma of sizzling street food drifts through Gerrard Street, London’s West End becomes a living tapestry of sound and color.Battersea power blocks, bus garages and suburban streets empty as families, friends and curious visitors converge to watch sinuous golden dragons weave past dim sum restaurants and bubble tea bars. Drummers hammer out a relentless rhythm, lion dancers bow low to children at the front of the crowd, and elders wrapped in thick winter coats tuck handwritten wishes into incense-filled shrines. Between smartphone flashes and press photographers chasing the perfect frame, moments of quiet pride emerge: grandparents explaining the story of the zodiac, teenagers switching fluently between English and Cantonese, stallholders sharing last-minute mandarins for luck. Beneath the spectacle lies a simple ritual: greeting the new lunar year together in a city that constantly remakes itself.
Beyond the famous West End route, the celebrations fracture into dozens of smaller gatherings that reveal the depth of London’s Chinese and East Asian communities. In community centres from Croydon to Colindale, volunteers arrange plastic chairs and paper cut-outs before the crowds arrive. Local choirs rehearse folk songs, university societies prepare calligraphy corners, and independent artists hang temporary exhibitions that trace migration stories across oceans and decades. Each neighbourhood brings its own emphasis:
- Chinatown – densely packed processions, firecrackers, street food queues.
- Southbank – contemporary dance, film screenings, family-friendly workshops.
- Suburban town halls – home-cooked buffets, storytelling, language classes.
| Highlight | Location | What the lens captures |
|---|---|---|
| Dragon dance turning a tight corner | Wardour Street | Blurred scales,outstretched hands |
| New year prayers and incense | Soho temple | Soft smoke,folded wishes |
| Youth volunteers on clean-up duty | Leicester Square | Hi-vis vests,red envelopes in pockets |
How London’s Chinese New Year festivities support local businesses and practical tips for visitors
Under the lanterns and lion dances,a quieter story plays out in cash tills and card readers across the West End. Family-run dim sum houses, bubble-tea kiosks and long-established grocery stores from Soho to Leicester Square see one of their busiest trading days of the year, with footfall spilling into side streets that tourists rarely find in March. Temporary street licences allow stallholders to sell regional snacks,paper cuttings and calligraphy,while nearby bookshops,fashion boutiques and even barbers reframe their windows in red and gold to catch the crowds flowing between performances.For many businesses still recalibrating after the pandemic,this concentrated surge of visitors is more than spectacle: it is a crucial injection of revenue at a traditionally slow point in the retail calendar.
For visitors, a little planning turns spectacle into something more grounded in the neighbourhood’s daily life. Explore one block beyond the main parade route,where you are more likely to find the baker who supplies the festival’s pineapple buns or the supermarket that imports the joss sticks burning in the streets. Consider these practical tips:
- Arrive early to beat the densest crowds and support cafés serving workers’ breakfasts before the parades begin.
- Carry some cash for small traders and pop-up stalls that may struggle with patchy card signal amid the crush.
- Book meals off-peak – late afternoon or early evening – to ease lunchtime pressure on kitchens and avoid long queues.
- Look beyond Chinatown, from bakeries in Bayswater to supermarkets in Deptford, where celebrations are less theatrical but more local.
- Use public transport and walk between hubs, giving you the chance to stop at independent shops on quieter streets.
| Time of Day | Best For | Local Impact |
|---|---|---|
| Morning | Cafés, bakeries | Steady trade before peak |
| Midday | Street stalls, swift bites | High-volume, fast turnover |
| Late afternoon | Sit-down restaurants, shops | Longer visits, higher spend |
Floods in France communities under water and the human cost behind the weekend’s images
As swollen rivers broke their banks across northern and western France, weekend tranquillity dissolved into a choreography of rescue boats, sandbags and hurried evacuations. Streets that only days earlier hosted bustling markets turned into opaque canals, with front doors barely visible above the waterline and residents ferried to safety in dinghies. Emergency crews worked through the night under harsh blue sirens, navigating submerged cars and buckled pavements, while local authorities scrambled to maintain power, clean water and access to medical care. The scale of the deluge forced entire neighbourhoods into temporary exile, their belongings stacked in upper floors or abandoned altogether.
Behind each wide-angle photograph of inundated town squares lies a quieter ledger of loss and disruption. Families counted the cost in ruined furniture, soaked schoolbooks and shuttered businesses, as community halls filled with makeshift bedding and hot drinks. Volunteers and neighbours formed improvised support networks, sharing generators, food and spare clothing, offering a fragile buffer against uncertainty.
- Homes: Ground floors gutted, long-term damp and mould fears.
- Livelihoods: Cafés, bakeries and workshops forced to close indefinitely.
- Health: Rising anxiety, sleepless nights, and strain on local services.
- Community response: Grassroots fundraising,shared childcare,pooled transport.
| Town | Evacuated Residents | Days of Disruption |
|---|---|---|
| Riverside suburb | 350+ | 3-5 |
| Market village | 120 | 2-3 |
| Industrial district | 80 | 5+ |
Preparing for climate driven flooding in France expert insights local resilience and what needs to change
While London streets filled with red lanterns and lion dances, riverfront towns in France were wrestling with swollen waterways and hastily stacked sandbags. Hydrologists and urban planners interviewed this weekend point to a convergence of factors: warmer winters that bring intense rain instead of snow, outdated drainage networks, and decades of building on floodplains. Local mayors describe a fragile balance between emergency response and long-term adaptation, noting that citizens are increasingly aware that “once-in-a-century” floods now arrive every few years. Experts stress that resilience is not just about higher levees; it is about reshaping how communities live with water, from the placement of schools and hospitals to the design of basements, car parks and even public squares.
Environmental agencies are pushing for a shift from reactive clean‑ups to proactive redesign, but they face political hesitation and tight municipal budgets. Specialists in climate adaptation argue that France needs clearer national standards and stronger incentives to protect vulnerable areas, coupled with local experimentation that reflects the character of each town. They highlight several priority actions that could determine how quickly river communities recover from the next storm:
- Restoring wetlands as natural buffers to absorb peak river flows.
- Revising building codes to ban new construction in high‑risk zones.
- Retrofitting critical infrastructure such as schools, care homes and transport hubs.
- Improving early‑warning systems with clearer alerts and evacuation routes.
- Supporting households with financial tools for elevating homes and installing flood barriers.
| Focus Area | Local Action | Key Benefit |
|---|---|---|
| Riverfront towns | Relocate car parks away from banks | Less damage, faster reopening |
| Farm regions | Create floodable fields | Reduces pressure on villages |
| City centres | Install permeable pavements | Lower runoff, fewer flash floods |
| Schools | Move critical equipment upstairs | Keeps classrooms usable |
In Conclusion
From lantern-lit parades in London’s Chinatown to submerged streets in southern France, the weekend’s images capture a world in sharp contrast: party and disruption, resilience and vulnerability. As communities welcome the Year of the Dragon with colour and optimism, others confront the rising waters that threaten homes and livelihoods. Together, these photographs offer more than a record of events; they trace the contours of how people respond when tradition, climate and daily life collide. In the weeks ahead, the scenes may fade from the headlines, but the questions they raise about culture, community and a changing planet will only grow more urgent.
