The normal hush was disrupted at the Union City Library Saturday, Feb. 1 by a Lunar New Year celebration. Presented by New Haven Unified School District in collaboration with the Guy Immanuel Mandarin Immersion Program, the festivity brought the Union City community together to enjoy colorful and dynamic performances.
The program included dancing, music and martial arts demonstrations. Girls in grades 1-5 delighted the crowd with charming renditions of the Floral Hat and Umbrella Dances. The Tri City Nightingales—a father and two daughter trio of Erin Chiu, Ellie Chiu and Otto Chiu—gave a soothing musical performance of a Chinese folk song performed on traditional Chinese instruments.
James Logan High School Kung Fu Club and the Zhang Kung Fu Institute performed explosive and powerful martial arts demonstrations that included aerial acrobatics, flying kicks and weapons demonstrations in disciplined synchronization. Shawn Chen, long time martial arts student and founder of the Kung Fu Club at James Logan High School, spoke to the audience about how martial arts builds respect, confidence and leadership skills.
He also talked about the challenges. “I think the challenge I face the most is dealing with being an athlete in general because we face many injuries,” said Shawn. “And I think one thing that’s very important is injury prevention. For me, I go to a chiropractor twice a week and doing that helps me a lot.”
This was one of many new year celebrations around the Bay Area. Chinese New Year, Lunar New Year or Spring Festival—as it’s called in China—marks the end of winter and the beginning of spring. The first day of Chinese New Year begins on the new moon—when the moon is between the Earth and the Sun and is not visible in the sky—that appears between Jan. 21 and Feb. 20. The festival lasts from New Year’s Eve, the evening preceding the first day of the year, to the Lantern Festival, held on the 15th day of the year.
Lunar New Year is one of the most important and widely celebrated holidays in China and other Asian countries, dating back more than 3,500 years. This year the Lunar New Year started on Jan. 29 marking the arrival of the year of the snake. The festivities began Jan. 28 on New Year’s Eve and will continue through Feb. 12 with the Lantern festival.
