In pictures: Chinese prepare for the Year of the Dragon

Thousands of people visit a lantern festival to celebrate the Chinese New Year of the Dragon in Shanghai. The Lunar New Year begins on January 23 and is the beginning of the Spring Festival holiday. AFP PHOTO/Peter PARKS

Fireworks explode over a residential area of Beijing. AFP PHOTO / Ed Jones

Worshipers burn incense in prayer at the Lama Temple, one of the most renowned Tibetan monastery outside Tibet, wishing for good luck and good fortune on the first day of the Chinese New Year of the Dragon in Beijing, China. EPA/DIEGO AZUBEL

An elderly Chinese woman attaches a blessing tablet with her wishes for the new year at the Dongyue Temple in Beijing. AFP PHOTO/Mark RALSTON

Performers wearing costumes of the Qing Dynasty take part in a worship ceremony in Tiantan Park, or the Temple of Heaven, in Beijing. AFP PHOTO / Ed Jones

Chinese dancers perform on a stage at a temple fair in Ditan Park. AP Photo/Andy Wong

Actors perform the dragon dance on the eve of the New Year of the Dragon at a park in Beijing, China. Chinese around the globe marked the start of the Spring Festival, or the Chinese New Year of the Dragon on January 23 2012, according the 12 year Chinese cycle of zodiac animals. Diego Azubal / EPA

A performer wears face paint in preparation for the Chinese New Year. Diego Azubel / EPA

Food vendors dressed in imperial costumes offer meat skewers in Beijing. Diego Azubel / EPA

A seller hands a food to a customer on the eve of Chinese New Year in Taipei, Taiwan. Chiang Ying-ying / AP Photo

A fire breather performs in Chinatown in Manila. Noel Cellis / AFP

More than 200 million people are expected to use China's railways over the New Year period, the biggest movement of humans in the world. Jason Lee / Reuters

A professional diver in a mermaid costume watches her co-diver, who is holding a Water Dragon puppet, swim inside the Manila Ocean Park aquarium in. Romeo Ranoco / Reuters

Angelito "Karat Chef" Araneta Jr, 24, adds the finishing touches to his edible Water Dragon sculpture made of gum-paste icing inside a Manila restaurant. The sculpture is also coated in 24 karat gold leaf and adorned with 17 Mikimoto pearls and two diamonds for eyes. It costs about Dh51,000. Romeo Ranoco / Reuters