Xin nian kuai le - happy Chinese New Year!

The arrival of the Year of the Wooden Sheep was celebrated in style by Police around the country.

The Chinese Ambassador, His Excellency Wang Lutong, joined Commissioner Mike Bush at Police National Headquarters for a celebration including food, traditional Chinese cultural performances and demonstrations of calligraphy and painting.

The Commissioner said the event was an important reflection of Police’s core value of Valuing Diversity and was a way to acknowledge the role the Chinese community - which now numbers more than 171,000 - plays in New Zealand life.

Elsewhere in the country police staff joined with local community representatives to celebrate Spring Festival, the best known and most important of the traditional Chinese holidays.