SHOPPERS can feel lucky as a city celebrates the Year of the Monkey today.

Durham City will welcome the Chinese New Year when young members of the Oceans Apart kung-fu club perform a traditional lion dance.

After the dance, at 1pm in Millennium Place, Claypath, the lion will tour the Market Place, Prince Bishops Shopping Centre and Milburngate Shopping Centre, spreading good fortune.

The event has been organised by the Durham Marketing Initiative, which is hoping for a big turnout.

Oceans Apart teacher Shaka Brown has spent £500 on a new lion, in the red and black of Kwang Yu Gung, the patron saint of kung fu, from Hong Kong.

The new lion will have its eyes, ears and tail painted to the accompaniment of loud Chinese percussion, but the old lion will be used for the parade through the streets.

The Mayor of Durham, Councillor Ray Gibbon, will feed the lion lettuce that is then spat out, spreading an abundance of fortune during the year.

From 10.30am, there will be a falconry display as well as Chinese calligraphy, from 11am, and story-telling, from 11.30am, both in the Clayport Library.

The lion's tour through the city is expected to get under way at about 2pm.

Marketing Initiative chairman Richard Toynbee said: "I hope everyone comes into Durham and picks up some of the lion's good luck.

"We'll have people handing out fortune cookies as the lion goes through the streets.

"We organise events to bring people into the city throughout the year. January and February are usually quiet and the Chinese New Year celebrations inject a bit of colour.''