Fornew readers and those who request to be “好友 good friends”,  please read my 公告栏 first.

2015 Lexington Chinese New Year Festival

(I am transmitting this article in the middle of a historical snowstorm on the east coast of theUS. We expect snow fall of 30 inche,  high wind of70 miles per hour, flooding of coastal towns, and loss of power anytime. Thing will not return to normal for at least 48 hours. Will write more later)

I have written earlier about my home town, Lexington,Massachusetts, http://blog.sciencenet.cn/blog-1565-33868.html. In recent years this town has become the “mecca” for Chinese immigrants, students, seniors, and real estate investors. The town offers the number one rated public school in the state (#19 in the entire country), and the  highest percentage of registered Chinese  American voters in the state.  10% of the total population of  30,000+ are Chinese Americans, and in special senior  public housing unit 20%- 50% of the population are CA seniors. Furthermore, the CAs are active in town governing and electoral political affairs.  Town wide candidates for office always come to address the CA election forum and try to win our votes.

In return, the CAs organized biannual Chinese New Year dinner for the residents of the town.  I have earlier written about this event http://blog.sciencenet.cn/home.php?mod=space&uid=1565&do=blog&id=764588. However, this year of 2015 we outdid ourselves. Under the leadership of Weidong Wang, an elected CA town official, an enthusiastic volunteer team has been working since last Fall for a day long Chinese New Year Festival day in town to which the populations  of the entire town were invited. The festival involves an afternoon cultural and food exhibit in the town library – arts, crafts, and Chinese  calligraphic demonstration by a renowned artist, Jason Tan. Free Chinese foods  were served to all comers. In the evening there was a 3 hour performance modelled after the annual new year festive broadcast by CCTV featuring unique Chinese performances of dance, singing, Yo-yo acrobatics, kung-fu demo, Chinese opera, and “face change” demo, as well as the Lexington High School Choir (which will tour China later this year) with predominant  Caucasian  singers  do Chinese songs with perfect Mandarin pronunciation.  All this totally free to the entire population! In addition the CAs donated thousands of dollars of cash to local  charitable foundations and community centers. All and all, an unprecedented event in town by a minority group and a shining counter example to the fact that Chinese culture is lacking in the social responsibilities and “giving back to the community”.

Here is the detailed program

Note added 1/28/2015 For Local Chinese paper reporting of the same go to

English version:

http://bostonese.com/2015/01/celebrating-chinese-new-year-at-cary-memorial-library/

Chinese version:

http://bostonese.com/2015/01/celebrate-cny-at-cary-lib-on-a-snowy-day/

2015 Chinese New Year Festival

Afternoon Program: Chinese Culture Fair

Cary Memorial Library, 1:00 to 3:30 PM

• Dragon Parade

• Arts & Crafts

􀁸Paper Cutting andPaper Folding: Mary Luo

􀁸Dough FigurineMaking: Zhining Xia

􀁸Calligraphy NameWriting: Junyu Cheng and Ernan Lin

• Chinese New Year Food Tasting

• Calligraphy Exhibition: Jason ChaohongTan

Tan willcreate beautiful works of art that can be purchased by the general

public. Hehas generously agreed to donate all proceeds from the sale of his

art to theCommunity Endowment of Lexington (CEL), an endowed fund of the

Foundationfor MetroWest. CEL is a permanent fund that awards grants to

nonprofitorganizations, agencies, and programs that specifically benefit the

town ofLexington and its residents.

• Musical Performance and Instrument Petting Zoo

􀁸Yangqing:Cathleen Chen

􀁸Guzheng: Amy Long

􀁸Pipa: Lucy Lu ,Yun Xia , Ying Chen

􀁸Bamboo Flute:Dehua Zhen

􀁸Erhu: ChengzhouGong

􀁸Sheng: HongxunXie

􀁸Interpreter: YunXia , Jane Zhou

Evening Program: Stage Performance

Lexington High School Auditorium, 7:00 to 9:00 PM

7

Evening Program

1. Opening: Lion Dance and Drum

2. Hung Gar Martial Arts

― Calvin Chin Martial ArtAcademy, http://www.calvinchin.com/

The LionDance is an important Chinese tradition performed during festive occasions suchas Chinese New

Year, businessgrand openings, weddings, as well as bringing good luck and happiness. Thedance combines

art,history, and martial arts for an extraordinary performance. The lion moves inrhythm with the music and

requiresprecision and coordination from all team members.

Hung Garis a traditional martial arts system originated by Shaolin monks to defendtheir Henan province

temple.The techniques mimick five animals - tiger, white crane, dragon, snake, andleopard. Hung Gar

emphasizesstrong stances, long and short hand techniques, encompassing straight,circular, and angular

movements.

3. Dance “Little Cowboy”

― ACAS Traditional ChineseDance Troupe

Winnie Li and Jessica Tian

A popularfolk song of Hopei was adapted to create this charming duet. It features traditionalpastoral

elements,a lovely village girl, and a playful young cowboy expressing their feelingsthrough dance.

4. Beijing Opera “Allegro Aria: To Drift Like Clouds and FlowLike Water”

― Boston Beijing OperaAssociation : Lili Cao, Weishan Liu, Huiyuan Zhu, Ruiyi Ren, Ronghua

Wang; Instrument Ensemble

“To Drift Like Clouds and Flow Like Water” is an allegro aria whichcontains a few excerpts selected from

theBeijing Opera repertoire. The performers will showcase the roles of QingYi(young female), HuaDan

(vivaciousmaiden), WuDan (female skilled in martial art) and LaoSheng (old man) invarious Beijing Opera

styles ofrenowned artists Mei Lanfang, Cheng Yanqui and Ma Changli.

5. Mongolian Dance “Swan Geese”

― HuaXia Dance Troupe :WenCai, Siting Gan, Yaoying Huang, Jing Kang, Nikki

Liu, Xin Lu, Peining Lu, Fan Mu, GeGe Tan, Yvonne-K Wong, DanYang, Angelique Yeung, and

Instructor: Ma Jia

SwanGeese features a Mongolian folk song that has been performed over manygenerations. The

choreographydepicts the travails of a swan geese flock flying over mountains and rivers,defying harsh rain

andthunder, and experiencing life and death along their journey. This performanceis an expression of their

indestructiblespirit through hardship.

6. Song 􀲯My Chinese Is So So

― Mandarin Chinese LanguageProgram Students, led by their teacher: Sing-Dye Ding

7. Chinese Yo-Yo

― Greater Boston ChineseCulture Association (GBCCA)

Ryan Lee􀋄􁵾􀽗􄍥􀋅and Nicholas Zhang

Amazingand awe-inspiring tricks performed using the whole body and other props todemonstrate the

performer’s coordination, flexibility, strength,creativity, and stamina.

8

~ Intermission ~

8. Chinese Folk Music: Beautiful SouthernChina, Happiness

― Xi Yang Yang Music EnsembleBeautiful Southern China depicts China’s beauty south of the Yangtze River. The smoothand delicate

melody istypical of music from southern China. Happiness is a popular Chinese folk song, depicting happy

mood andfestive atmosphere of the harvest season.

9. Magic: Face Changing in Sichuan Opera

― Performer: Shuwang Yang

Face-changing(􀨈􃝨) is a highlight of the Sichuan Opera. Performers wear brightlycolored costumes and

move toquick, dramatic music. Wearing vividly colored masks depicting famous operacharacters, the actors

“magically” change masks, or faces, with the swipe of a fan, head movement, ora hand wave. Sichuan

Operaperfects this ancient skill into an art form.

10. Classical Chinese Dance􀇉Regalia􀇊Summer Snow

― Foremost Arts Troupe (Lining Feng, Xiaorong Chen, Jie Cai, Angie Guo, Xiangping

Li, Faith Lin, Lily Yan , Dongming Yang, Hui Zhan, Jingwen Zhu

Choreographer: Beijing Dance Academy; Instructor: Vivian Zhang

BeijingDance Academy dance drama􀇉Regalia􀇊has been hailed from authorities in China as “Chinese

dancespirit of exploration”, and “Rocker” art. This dance segment of􀇉Regalia􀇊is an adaptation of an

ancientstory turned into a popular play during the Yuan Dynasty.

11. Calligraphy Exhibition and Gu Zhengsolo: “Lofty Mountains and Flowing Waters”

􀀃

― Calligraphy artist: JasonChaohong Tan, Gu Zheng soloist: Shinyi Yang 􀀃

􀀃

Accompanyingthe music is a demonstration of semi-cursive or running script, a core Chinesecalligraphic

stylewith free movements. The calligraphy illustrates a poem by a famous TangDynasty poet, Wang

Zhihuan,called “On the Stork Tower.” – “The sun beyond the mountain glows; The Yellow River seawards

flows. You can enjoy a grander sight; By climbing to a greaterheight.”

12. Dance “Whisper of Spring”

― Angel Dance Company: LilyHe, Stephanie He, Serena Kuang, Anna Li, Emily Liu,

Susy Liu, Sydni Lockeby, Jessie Shi, Sabrina Zhang

This is aclassic Chinese dance depicting spring; early season buds gradually reach theirfull blossom.

13. Lexington High School Chorus

“Diu Diu Deng􀀃Fengyang Song􀲰

“The Cataract of MountLu􀲰Finale: 􀲯Mo Li Hua􀲰

― LHS Chorus Groups: ConcertChoir, Women’s Chorus, and Madrigal Singers

Teacher: Jason Iannuzzi

Here attached are also Photos of the festival taken by residents Yan Li .

Lion Dance

Chinese Opera singing with band

Face changing performance

Lexington High School Choir

Chinese Calliography and ancient zeen performance and demosntration

Here are two more photos from resident Hua Wang

Mongolian Dance

Another face change performance.

Notes added 2/3/2015: For more photos of the event go to https://picasaweb.google.com/110816875039397781686/CNY_Celebration_24Jan15_AndyZhang?authkey=Gv1sRgCJXxzPHPptWqbQ&feat=email