庆祝节日

His imperial highness, Emperor Ko-Houang-Di, is in charge of the Carnival festivities in the Bavarian town of Dietfurt this week. The town's actual mayor is relegated to the status of "imperial Mandarin" during the events leading up to Lent on Ash Wednesday.

To celebrate the new emperor of Dietfurt, the townspeople hold a parade in his honor. Each year they dress up in Chinese costumes.

The people of Dietfurt do dragon dances, learn strange German-Chinese hymns they compose for the event and yell faux-Chinese greetings to their emperor.

The Dietfurters call themselves "Bavarian Chinese."

Last week around 50 floats took part in the annual parade.

Around 10,000 people attended the event on Thursday, and it is slowly drawing more tourists.

The origins of the Chinese carnival in Dietfurt are not completely clear although it is thought that it had something to do with a dispute over church taxes in the late 19th century.

Apparently back then, the townspeople locked their walled town down so that nobody could collect the taxes. When officials found themselves in front of the walled city they likened the Bavarians to Chinese who sheltered behind the Great Wall of China.

Every year the Dietfurters compose faux-Chinese songs and greetings for their new "emperor."