one of the biggest parades in the world and the biggest celebration outside of asia. monte frances is in china town with a look for us. reporter: good evening. the parade was under way about 45 minutes ago and started with a bang. reporter: there are about 5,000 people taking part in the parade this year, and there are about 100 parade floats. the parade started here on market street. it is proceeding up gary to union square and turns north on powell and heads to china town via post and then kearney. from beginning to end the parade should last two hours. an estimated 1 million people have come to see this colorful parade to mark the year of the dragon. i am excited. i have never seen one of the drag an 0s. i have always wanted to see the dragons. i have my own mini dragon. it will be fun. i think this is really good and really fun. reporter: there are at least eight dragons in this year s parade including one that has 260 feet long and which will be carried by 200