Anartist performs the Lion Dance to celebrate the Chinese lunar New Year in Chinatown in Lima, Peru, Feb. 6, 2016. [Xinhua/Luis Camacho]

Home to Latin America's largest Chinese community, Peru hosts especially colorful New Year celebrations marking the start of the Lunar Year, the Year of the Monkey.

In a country where an estimated 10 to 15 percent of the population of 30 million are of Chinese descent, New Year festivities are both popular and packed in Peru.

In Lima's Chinatown, groups perform the lion dance, accompanied by gongs, drums, cymbals and fireworks. They go from establishment to establishment, symbolically feeding on lettuce (a symbol of prosperity because its Chinese words sheng cai mean making money) that is tied together with a red envelope containing money and hung from doors.

The lion dancers, juggling and jumping about, "scare away the evil spirits" as the crowd follow them around, trying to pet the ferocious feline masks for good luck.

Along Capon, one of the city's pedestrian streets, various astrologers read the oracle and sell blessed objects to give prosperity and good health to homes. This street is the most representative of the Chinese community in the Peruvian capital, with its restaurants and large wall tiles representing the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac, including this year's monkey.

The Confucius Institutes of the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru and the Ricardo Palma University, both in Lima, also organized celebrations featuring traditional Chinese folk music and dancing, along with games and prizes.

Lima isn't the only Peruvian city to observe the Chinese New Year, with smaller celebrations taking place in other Peruvian cities with sizable Chinese communities.