All Australians are invited to mark Lunar New Year with a distinctive content line-up across the SBS network
SBS is encouraging all Australians to celebrate the Year of the Tiger, wherever they are across the country, with a range of programming and activities on offer across the network in the lead up to and throughout Lunar New Year commencing 1 February. With a line-up including documentaries, dramas, movies, food programs and recipes, an expanded subtitled collection of programs on SBS On Demand, extensive coverage across SBS Radio, and much more, SBS will help bring people together at this important time of year marked by thousands of Australians.
SBS Radio’s language programs will deliver a wealth of content across platforms, engaging with audiences to hear how Australians are celebrating Lunar New Year in 2022, including interviews, videos, podcasts, competitions and articles, as well as social engagement and talkback with SBS’s diverse language communities. To get in the celebratory spirit, SBS Radio will also be bringing audiences an hour of Lunar New Year festive music every morning from 6am, kicking off next Monday 31 January until Tuesday 15 February.
Lunar New Year 2022 will mark one year since the launch of SBS 中文 (SBS Chinese), a digital service for Mandarin and Cantonese-speaking Australians. This milestone will be celebrated with a raft of content about Lunar New Year including a VoxPop video asking people how they celebrate, fun facts about the festival and an article about celebrities born in the Year of the Tiger. SBS Radio’s Vietnamese, Korean, Tibetan, Filipino, Samoan, Khmer and Mongolian language programs, will also mark Lunar New Year with content across radio and digital platforms, highlighting the breadth and diversity of celebrations across communities.
SBS Director of Audio and Language Content, David Hua, said,
“Lunar New Year is a special time that is celebrated by many cultures and communities across Australia and around the world, welcoming a new year and wishing good fortune to others, and we are excited to be marking the occasion with themed content right across the SBS network. Particularly at this time of ongoing challenges for communities throughout the country, SBS is pleased to be inviting all Australians to come together to experience, learn about and welcome the Year of the Tiger, celebrating Australia’s rich diversity and one of our many significant multicultural events.”
Highlights of SBS’s curated Lunar New Year content include the Australian television premiere of documentary The Great Wall of China: The Making of China, a breathtaking aerial journey travelling along the Great Wall from the Yellow Sea to the Gobi Desert, uncovering 3,000 years of history, to broadcast on SBS on Sunday 30 January at 7.30pm, and available on SBS On Demand.
SBS VICELAND will showcase a range of themed programs and films including the premiere of action hits Shockwave and Shockwave 2. SBS Food is marking the occasion with Lunar New Year-inspired travel food shows, including Adam Liaw’s Destination Flavour, as well as sharing dedicated recipes, videos and articles online.
SBS World Movies will celebrate with a curated collection of films, placing a spotlight on Chinese, Vietnamese and Korean movies, including Parasite, the Korean movie awarded Oscar winner for Best Picture. While SBS On Demand will offer an expanded collection of programs available with subtitles in Simplified Chinese, Vietnamese and Korean, and feature curated content including a selection of movies and television shows handpicked by Australian writer and broadcaster, Benjamin Law.
SBS Voices will publish a series of first-person accounts about Lunar New Year including an exploration of the different signs of the Chinese zodiac, and SBS Learn – SBS’s dedicated website for teachers – has teamed up with artist and educator Freda Chiu to create an art activity to encourage children, families and teachers to celebrate Lunar New Year in the classroom and at home. This activity will be available in six languages including English, Cantonese, Mandarin, Vietnamese, Mongolian and Korean.
While the ability for communities across Australia to come together in person has been hampered across the country in the last two years, SBS is supporting a number of community festivals taking place in 2022 around Australia, including events in Canberra, Sydney, Brisbane, Darwin, Perth and Launceston.
Visit sbs.com.au/LNY22 for more Lunar New Year content from SBS.
Television program information:
SBS
The Great Wall of China: The Making of China, Sunday 30 January, 7.30pm
In a breath- taking aerial journey, fly the entire length of The Great Wall of China to follow the longest man- made monument in the world. Travelling from the Yellow Sea in the east to the Gobi Desert in the west, this stunning journey uncovers 3,000 years of history.
Secrets of China’s Forbidden City, Tuesday 1 February, 3.10pm
Beijing’s vast Imperial Palace, known as the Forbidden City, is one of mankind’s greatest historic icons, and the world’s biggest residential building. It’s a bewildering maze of hidden secrets and unexpected legends, closed for hundreds of years to the outside world – until now. This special access documentary reveals the secrets about how and why the city was built, and what extraordinary events went on inside its walls.
SBS VICELAND
Shock Wave 2, Wednesday 26 January, 11.25pm
In the premiere of the sequel to Shock Wave (available now on SBS On Demand), a terrorist expert in explosives, whose gang has been dismantled, seeks revenge by threatening to blow up a Hong Kong tunnel with hundreds of hostages. The policeman who has already beaten him once must stop him again. In Cantonese with English subtitles.
China’s New Silk Road: From Yiwu to Madrid, Tuesday 1 February, 8.30pm
Documentary premiere exploring Yiwu, a new international hotspot bustling with energy in south-eastern China. It is the starting point of the longest train connection of the world, crossing Eurasia to Madrid, and the centre of trade.
China’s LGBTQAI+ Surrogacy Families, Tuesday 1 February, 9.35pm
Surrogacy and LGBTQAI+ rights both lie in the legally grey area in a socially conservative China. This documentary follows Hanson and Wu, a gay couple from Beijing, who are willing to take the risk to build their family.
The Bad Kids, season 1, from Tuesday 1 February, 10.50pm
In this 12-part drama, three children unintentionally film a murder scene and become involved with the main suspect. However, as more families become entrapped in the case, the mystery seems to go further than anticipated. In Mandarin with English subtitles.
SBS World Movies
Song Lang (Vietnamese), Monday 31 January, 9.30pm
The star of a travelling opera troupe develops an unlikely friendship with an enforcer for a loan shark.
Reign of Assassins (Mandarin), Tuesday 1 February, 9.30pm
A shopkeeper must, again, take up the sword of the assassin when her former partners-in-crime come to demand that she hand over the remains of a famous monk.
Burning (Korean), Wednesday 2 February, 9.30pm
Based on a story by renowned Japanese author Haruki Murakami, this gripping drama is a psychological study of thwarted love, ambition and obsession.
The Bravest (Mandarin), Thursday 3 February, 9.30pm
When the oil pipeline at the Bingang Oil Depot in the city harbour explodes, a disgraced firefighter captain must put aside his grievances and team up with his former subordinate in order to save the city.
Shadow (Mandarin), Friday 4 February, 9.30pm
In an ancient kingdom ruled by a young and unpredictable king, the military commander has a secret weapon: a ’shadow’, a look -alike who can fool both his enemies and the King himself. Now he must use this weapon in an intricate plan that will lead his people to victory in a war that the King does not want.
SBS Food
31 January to 11 February, 5.30pm-7pm Monday to Friday
Destination Flavour Singapore S1 E1-10, 5.30pm
Adam Liaw travels to the island of Singapore. While there, he sets a challenge for himself; in six weeks he is going to put on a Salute to Singapore Banquet Dinner for some of the country’s top food identities.
Luke Nguyen’s Railway Vietnam S1 E1-10, 6pm
Acclaimed Sydney chef, Luke Nguyen, returns to the country of his heritage to take a culinary journey through the southern regions of Vietnam.
Destination Flavour China S1 E1-10, 6.30pm
Adam Liaw discovers the vast and ancient country of China, exploring its history through its food whilst at the same time exploring his own family history.
