The festival starts on Sept. 9 with an Embrace China gala at the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium

The first ever Halifax Chinese Festival kicks off this weekend.

Festival committee member Wilber Huang says there's a growing number of Chinese immigrants coming to Halifax.

"It's time to showcase our culture more," he explained. "To give people more opportunity to understand our culture, to understand a little bit more about the philosophy of Chinese people, thinking, living and doing business."

The festival starts on Sept. 9 with an Embrace China gala at the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium, which includes a performance by the Chinese National Acrobatic Troupe.

It ends on Sept. 22 with a day of food, games and performances along the Halifax Waterfront at Lower Sackville Landing. Admission to that event is free.

In between those two dates, several cultural events will be taking place.

Huang hopes they'll be able to make this an annual event.