On Saturday, Feb. 2, the West Windsor Branch of the Mercer County Library System and Music Unite collaborated in making a successful Chinese New Year Celebration and performance to celebrate the Year of the Pig.
The performances organized by Music Unite demonstrated a large range of Chinese culture inheritance. There were Chinese songs and dances, “Long Wen,” “Jia Ren,” “Hou Niao,” “Wo Jia Zai Zhong Guo,” and Jin Ye Wu Mian; Chinese instruments (erhu and guzheng); Ping opera; fashion shows; Chinese riddles and couplets; magic, Taekwondo; and violin, “The Fishermen Song,” “Why the Flower So Red,” and “Xinjiang Spring.” The audience participated in learning martial art tiger fists.
Besides the performances, the library had activities such as lantern making, page coloring and chopstick challenging games. Many Chinese snacks and hong baos (red envelopes) were provided to share the Chinese holiday spirit.
The founders of Music Unite, Catherine Jiang and Amanda Chen said, “Music Unite is a non-profit organization whose mission is to help local children in need.”
They are both passionate for the music and eager to contribute to our local community. They are going donate personal profits from their original songs to help local kids with special needs. Catherine’s song is titled “U Get Me” and Amanda’s song is titled “Hands Up.” These songs were released in 100 countries and in 150 online digital music stores such as Amazon Music, Apple Music and Spotify.
The West Windsor Library plans on continuing the Lunar New Year tradition for next year, and hopes to feature even more performers and activities.
— Melissa Nemitz
Nemitz is the library’s youth services librarian.
