The celebrations were free and open to the community, and included lion dance displays, solo and choir singing, live music, Dharani swordplay, and tours of the Guan Di Temple exhibition at the Art Gallery.

QVMAG's public program officer Carmencita Palermo organised the event in collaboration with the Launceston Chinese Association and said the day was a huge success. She said there was still another week of celebrating to come.

"Tasmania is made up of several different cultures, and the museum is a place in which we tell their stories, one of which is the story of the nations who celebrate the Lunar New Year, particularly China, as there is a large contingent of people with Chinese heritage here," she said.

Launceston Chinese Association member Meixue Zhou said the Lunar New Year was symbolic to bidding farewell to the old year and starting fresh in the new one.

"More importantly, it's about family reunions," he said.

He said instead of tracking the Earth's orbit of the sun like in the calendar year, the Lunar New Year tracks the orbit of the moon.

"It changes every year and can start from late January to late February depending on the cycle," Mr Zhou said.

"It lasts around 15 days from the full moon to the half moon, to the full moon again."

Deputy Premier Michael Ferguson who attended the event said that the 2021 census revealed Tasmania had 12,000 residents born in China.

"We have the benefit now of not just sharing their food, art, dance, philosophy, custom, or history, but friendship," he said.

"And friendship can lead to generosity, kindness, encouragement, and help in hard times, because we all have hard times, and we all need friends."