A parade to celebrate this year’s “Double Celebration” will be led by a mechanical installation called the “Spirit of the Dragon-Horse” which was on display for the first time in Macau during a media tour given by the Municipal Affairs Bureau (IAM) in Coloane yesterday.
The 47-tonne yellow creature – named “Luhng Máh” in Chinese, combines the Chinese words for “dragon” (“Luhng”) and “horse” (“Máh”).
According to an IAM statement, the parade aims to mark the “Double Celebration” of the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and 20th anniversary of Macau’s return to the motherland.
The Dragon-Horse was created in 2014, the year of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the PRC and French Republic. The parade is organised by the local government and undertaken by IAM. The Dragon-Horse was jointly designed and created by WINLAND Creative Foundation Limited from Beijing and La Machine, a French production company based in Nantes.
The Chinese zodiac years of the dragon and horse symbolise special meanings for Sino-French relations. The Year of the Dragon is the year when the Beijing-Paris diplomatic ties were established in 1964, while the 50th anniversary of the relationship took place in the Year of the Horse in 2014, according to the statement.
The parade will start with an opening ceremony on Friday in Estrada Governador Albano de Oliveira in Taipa at 5 p.m. There will be two parades this weekend – one from Estrada Governador Albano de Oliveira to Rua de Coimbra starting at 3 p.m. in Taipa on Saturday and the other starting at 5:30 p.m. in Cotai on Sunday.
The Dragon-Horse installation is a fusion of advanced French technology and the spirit of the Chinese nation, symbolising the continuous self-improvement, concerted efforts and proactive attitude of the country, according to Simon Wang Simeng, the assistant general director of WINLAND Creative Foundation Limited, who made the remarks to reporters after the media tour.
According to the Macau Post Daily, besides the parade, there will be also cultural performances by the Vorraratsuksa Nonthaburi Marching Band of Thailand, the Flagpole waving art group of Hebei province, the Macau Lo Leong Sport General Association and local Portuguese group “Macau no Coração” (“Macau in the Heart”), according to the statement.
