The biggest Lunar New Year festivities outside of Asia have kicked off in Sydney and there's lanterns, pigs and dumplings aplenty.

These dumplings are definitely on theme. ( Instagram: syddesignsocial )

February 5 marks the first official day of the Chinese New Year, which celebrates the Year of the Pig.

But it's not hard to guess, with the city showcasing every pig decoration you can think of — even piglets have made appearances at some celebrations.

For those born in the Year of the Pig, 2019 is predicted to be a year of emotional ups and downs with mostly poor luck in health, love, career and finance.

But, those poor outlooks weren't the focus of the event, with revellers wishing one another good fortune and prosperity.

Of course at the heart of Chinese New Year is delicious food and on Tuesday Sydney broke the world record for the number of people eating dumplings at once.

Chinese tradition dictates that the more dumplings you eat, the more money you will have.

A new Guinness World Record of 764 people eating yum cha at the same time has now been set! ( AAP: Joel Carrett )

So 764 people had no hesitations chowing down, and overtook Melbourne for the previous record.

More than a million people celebrate the Lunar New Year across the country and the Australia-China Trade Association are calling for it to become a public holiday.

Executive chairman Ven Tan said the event was improving relations between China and Australia but the day needed to be properly recognised.

"Unfortunately because it's not a public holiday a lot of them are still working," he said.

"If we are able to call for a public holiday that would be good, because they can really really celebrate this great day."

Pig lantern by Qian Jian Hua takes centre stage at Sydney Harbour. ( Supplied: City of Sydney )

But NSW Minister for Transport and Infrastructure Andrew Constance, who was in Chinatown enjoying festivities, didn't seem to have it on the top of his list.

"So should the Bega Cup, but ultimately we have a raft of holidays to celebrate," he said.

Lunar Festival celebrations in Sydney's Chinatown started 22 years ago as a community gathering, but it has been transformed into an internationally renowned event.