Long Beach’s Qingdao Association brought Lunar New Year festivities to LAC, with stunning performances, dinner and a children’s lantern parade to celebrate the Year of the Rabbit this past Saturday.
The association’s mission is to foster friendships between Long Beach and its sister city, Qingdao in China. Family and friends in the Long Beach area came out to partake in the festivities, filling the atmosphere with tones of unity and prosperity.
Wendy Le, the Lunar Festival’s event chair, explained the goals of the event were to, “Bring the experience of Chinese traditions to Long Beach.”
The nordic lounge at LAC was draped in red as were its guests, which is recognized as the color of luck in Chinese culture. The tables were decorated with little red envelopes adorned with golden rabbits.
Red lanterns lined the walls of the lounge, each attached with a riddle, some in English and some in Chinese. Children and adults alike hurried around attempting to answer them.
Stuffed pandas awaited on a table as everyone turned in slips of paper marked with stickers for correct answers. There was a prize for the person who solved the most.
Off to the side stood Andy and Susan Young, long-time attendees of the festival, manning the Kid’s Korner. The children gathered around the table all night to color and assemble rabbit-themed paper lanterns that Andy Young had illustrated himself.
Wendy Le explained the importance of sharing the lantern-making tradition with the Long Beach community. She said, “When I look back, I remember making the lanterns as a kid, but we want the whole family to partake in the experience of these traditions.”
The evening kicked off with a traditional Lion Dance performed by a local troupe, Awakened Blessing Lion Dancers, a tradition in Southern China. The vibrant lions playfully taunted one another before leaving the stage to flow through the crowd. The guests erupted with delight and took snapshots on their phones to capture the wild moment.
The lions returned to the stage and per tradition were given heads of lettuce and red envelopes. The lions then ‘spit’ the lettuce towards the adoring audience members. It is tradition for the lions to ‘bless’ the crowd with prosperity by doing this.
The room was now buzzing with energy as Ling’s Dance Academy took the stage to perform traditional dances. With the gentle fluttering of fans and the swirling of vibrant red dresses, they performed routines entitled ‘Shanghai at Dawn’ and ‘Fragrant Flowers’ in the latter.
In attendance was Nancy Luong, winner of the miss Southern California title, who expressed a deep appreciation for the Lunar New Year and family. Luong, a proud daughter of Asian immigrants, grew up fondly partaking in these traditions and sharing the memories with family.
She reflected that “It’s the time of year that the family gets to come together and celebrate, show their love and spend quality time. Doing things for good luck. It’s all about prosperity, positivity and fortune.”
Luong was joined onstage by Stan Dewitt, the executive director of the Long Beach Youth Chorus, to teach the guests the popular new year song, Gong Xi. Everyone sang along and learned the proper hand gestures.
Dinner was provided by Nomad Asian Bistro and served by LBCC’s own Culinary Department. The hungry guests lined up to enjoy Kung Pao Chicken, Mongolian Beef, Shrimp, and Mapo Tofu along with some customary sides.
After dinner, there was a thrilling performance by ‘Face Changer’, Master Weiqi Zhong. Taunting the crowd with a flick of the robe, the face changer morphed into one surprise mask after another. The masks would change in a matter of seconds as the guests cheered on.
With the event winding down, the children gathered on stage to proudly show off the rabbit lanterns they had been working on all night.
The big sendoff included an encore of the Gong Xi song and now everyone was singing along in unison.