Chinese New Year will be celebrated at Plainsboro Public Library on Saturday, February 8, from 1 to 5 p.m. Festivities will begin with a reception for Shaomei Zhong Wan, an artist from East Windsor who will discuss the works in her “Fusion of Cultures” exhibition in the library’s art gallery. The exhibition features a collection of silk paintings and watercolors. (The News, January 24).
The Huaxia Chinese School’s Dragon Dance Team will dazzle with the graceful acrobatics of the library’s dragon, Jin Huo Long, at 2 p.m.
May Tong’s drums will sound the opening call for a series of musical and dance performances from 2:30 to 3:45 p.m. Performers include the Bravura Youth Orchestra led by conductor Chiu-Tze Lin, a T’ai Chi Ch’uan demonstration by Todd Tieger, a Chinese yoyo performance by members of the Princeton Chinese Language School, and more.
Hands-on entertainment presented from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. include David Lee’s dough art, Allison Kwok’s Chinese knotting creations, and arts and crafts for the kids. Yuchen Chen, Sissi Lu, Andrew Liu, and Howard Ye will demonstrat Chinese brush painting and calligraphy.
The Asian Food Market will provide Chinese cooking samples from 2:30 to 4 p.m.
Area dignitaries and citizens will hand out the traditional red envelopes, courtesy of the Asian Food Market, at 3:45 p.m. The envelopes will hold prizes including discounts and gifts of food in addition to the usual chocolate coins.
The final activity, from 4 to 4:30 p.m., is Lantern Riddles, a popular activity generally held during the Lantern Festival, which takes place on the last day of the Chinese New Year celebration. There will be hundreds of riddles in both English and Chinese waiting to be solved, and prizes for those who manage to unravel them successfully.
Library services will continue as usual during the celebration.
The celebration continues that same daywith a Chinese New Year Spectacular hosted by Huaxia Chinese School from 7 to 9:30 p.m. at McCarter Theater in Princeton. Tickets are $20.
The school, based in Plainsboro, has been operating for 15 years. It is dedicated to teaching the Chinese language and promoting Chinese culture in the local community. This is the ninth annual celebration. The event is sponsored by the Kaiyue Foundation, a non-profit organization that supports community cultural development and has sponsored many cultural events in the greater Princeton area.
Performers include the Guzheng Ensemble with “Hanging Red Lanterns” and “Spring Festival Overture” presented by Yang Yi Guzheng Academy Youth Ensemble based in West Windsor. A guzheng is a 21-string instrument (similar to a zither) that creates a dreamlike resonating sound used during many festivities and traditions tied to Chinese history. Yang Yi of West Windsor leads the musicians. The Youth Guzheng Ensemble performs traditional, folk, pop, and contemporary-style guzheng music.
A Chinese Hakka Dance, “Fragrance of the Straw,” will be presented by Dongli Youth Dancing Troupe. “My Motherland” and “Defend the Yellow River” will be performed on piano by Ruoyu Huang. A Chinese Dai dance, “Happy Water,” will be presented by Allison Liu, Michelle Pan, and Emily Luo.
Li Xia presents Chinese folk ballads “Reed Flowers” and “Blessing the Motherland.” Xia has served as the lead singer in more than 50 large-scale variety shows and has won several national awards in China for vocal and piano performances.
Members of American Repertory Ballet and Princeton Ballet School perform the Chinese Dance from the Nutcracker ballet.
“Love Story” features dancer Sophia Tian of Plainsboro with Kyle Huang on piano and Mia Huang on violin. The music is from the 1970 romantic drama film by the same name. This piece is played as a piano and violin duet and accompanied by a contemporary dance. Tian has won awards in many dance competitions and was invited to perform solo as a star champion performer in a recent national dance competition event.
“Call and Response” is set to Symphony No. 1 in B flat major by William Boyce, an 18th-century British composer. The original title for this composition was “Ode for the New Year,” which makes it especially appropriate for the evening’s festivities. The title of the dance refers to the interactions between the dancers, or between the dancers and the music.
A cello and guzheng duet, “Chrysanthemum Terrace,” will be presented by Gao Chen on cello and Jennifer Zhang on guzheng. Cao is a student at Curtis Institute and Zhang is a senior at High School South. This duet piece was arranged from the well-known movie sound track for “The City of the Golden Armor,” a 2006 epic Chinese drama film directed by Zhang Yimou.
Zhang is the grand prize winner on guzheng at the 2013 National Young Musicians Showcase Competition, the silver winner on guzheng at the 2013 International Guzheng Competition in Hong Kong, the bronze winner on guzheng at the 2013 American Youth Talent & Art contest hosted by the Sinovision TV Station, the first place winner on guzheng at the 2012 Princeton International Chinese Music Festival Chinese Music Competition, and the first place winner on piano at the 2012 New Jersey Music Teachers Association Composer Commission Competition.
There will also be gymnastics presented by Jun Li Youth Gymnastics, Chinese Kongfu by the Zhao ChangJun Wushi Team, drama, skits, comedy, music, dancing, and more.
Chinese New Year’s Celebration, Plainsboro Public Library, 9 Van Doren Street. Saturday, February 8, 1 to 5 p.m. Free. 609-275-2897. www.lmxac.org/plainsboro.
Chinese New Year Spectacular, Huaxia Chinese School, McCarter Theater, 91 University Place, Princeton. Saturday, February 8, 7 to 9:30 p.m. $20. 609-258-2787. www.mccarter.org.
