Traditional celebrations to mark the Chinese New Year in Bradford have been called off following the trauma of local and international events.

Leaders of the district's Chinese community have decided to cancel their annual gathering because of the Bradford riots and September 11 attacks.

Instead they will concentrate on building cross-cultural relationships in the district.

Chinese New Year falls on February 11 - exactly five months after the Twin Towers collapsed in New York.

The region's large Chinese and Vietnamese population normally meet at a local restaurant or hall to celebrate with colourful dancing dragons and lions.

But Peter Chiu, vice-chairman of the West Yorkshire Chinese Community Association and Bradford's Police Liaison Committee, said the community was not interested in celebrating in light of the past 12 months.

He said: "Our Chinese people are not happy. There have been a lot of problems in America, around the world and Bradford too.

"We live in the city - this city is our home, so this New Year we are not celebrating with an event. The only thing I would like to say is 'Have a happy New Year' on February 11. I hope everybody has a nice time and I want to pass this message to everybody in Bradford.

"We will carry on building relationships and reaching out to other cultures in the community. We carry on building every day. I hope this year will be a better year for everybody in the world."

Mr Chiu, who owns the Don Wang takeaway in Culling-worth, also warned that immigration rules had already seen some relatives turned away from Britain. "Until 1997, the British Government accepted Hong Kong Citizens and coming to this country was not a problem," he said.

"A lot of people haven't got a British passport now and if they have a Hong Kong passport, they need to get a visa. I want to make sure that people in the district tell their villages back home that they will need a visa to visit the UK for New Year."

Chinese New Year celebrations in Manchester, Birmingham and London were still going ahead, he added.