photo-a-day | day ninety-five

The annual Easter Parade in Bendigo is well worth the effort of attending… community groups, car clubs, Scottish bands, marching girls and, of course, the wonderful Chinese association… I just love it!

The culmination of the parade is the awakening of 'Sun Loong', the longest Imperial dragon in the world! It is just a phenomenal sight to behold!

Some fun facts about Sun Loong…

Sun Loong (meaning New Dragon) was brought to Bendigo from Hong Kong to replace Loong in
1970. He was
created by Lo On Kee, a traditional dragon builder.

Sun Loong is the longest Imperial dragon in the world, at
more than 100 metres in length. He requires
52 people plus 52 reliefs to carry him. Sun Loong is covered
in 4,500 scales, 90,000 mirrors, 30,000
beads and his head weighs 29kg.

Before he appeared in 1970, he was blessed and brought to
life by 101 year old Mr James Lew, who
dotted the new dragon's eyes with chicken blood. Sun Loong was
first awoken to accompany Loong's last
Bendigo Easter procession in 1970.