Lunar New Year: Year of the Dragon
Wednesday, January 25, 2012 at 3:07PM 
The hot-headed, yet soft dragon is this Lunar New Year’s animal. Photo by Sarah AuvilBy Sarah Auvil
auvils@mytjnow.com
Students from all nations and backgrounds congregated in the Richardson Ballroom to celebrate the Chinese New Year –some as fresh observers, and some as regular practitioners and performers sharing their culture.
Traditional lion dancers from St. Joseph’s Catholic church in Charlotte got up close and personal with the crowd, squeezing through the aisles and looking at audience members from inches away. A traditional food showcase was donated by Thi Le of Thi’s Place on Main, a Vietnamese restaurant in downtown Rock Hill.
Jan. 23, 2012 is the first day of the Chinese New Year celebration –a holiday based on the lunar calendar that is actually celebrated in more than 10 countries. The celebration typically lasts for 15 days. The holiday is based on the lunar calendar and usually occurs in late January or early February each year.
According to legend, the holiday was started by trying to get rid of a monster called “Nian” (also the Chinese word for “year”). Villagers discovered the beast was afraid of the color red and firecrackers, hence the vibrant decorations during the holiday.
Red is thought to ward away evil spirits and bad luck and bring good fortune for the upcoming year.
This year was the year of the fire-breathing dragon in the 12-animal Chinese zodiac. The dragon is unique because it is the only animal in the Chinese zodiac that is not real, said Victoria Spurlock, the event’s emcee.
People born in the year of the dragon are known to be hot-headed yet also have a softer side, she said. The dragon’s years include: 2000, 1988, 1976, 1964, and 1952.
It is also considered the luckiest year to be born: an Asian-American couple reportedly started using in-vitro fertilization solely in hopes of having an auspicious “dragon baby,” according to a story in the Wall Street Journal Jan. 24.
The article reported a “surge” in business at assisted-reproduction clinics tied to the dragon year, expected to decline in mid-May. The dragon will be in power until Feb. 9, 2013, which will begin the year of the snake.
For Winthrop’s own Lunar New Year celebrations, Quanrong “Jack” Cai sang “I Have A Feeling For You,” a traditional Chinese love song. Yan “Freedom” Bai followed up with a song called “Sea,” which she dedicated to a male friend she missed in China, she said.
The theme of friendship seemed to resound throughout the night – Yuyan “Lynn” Qin and Yingqiao “Rachel” Chen sang a Chinese song about friendship together, and the program closed with Yan Bai and Yuyan Qin leading all the Chinese students graduating in May in a heartwarming Chinese graduation/friendship song as they all held hands and the crowd waved their arms.
Jie “Chloe” Lei also got sentimental. She has performed violin at the Asian Lunar New Year event for the past four years at Winthrop, and is graduating this May. She gave shout outs to various faculty, friends, and people in the community that helped her during her stay here.
She played a traditional lunar new year song loosely translated as “Late Night Boat Serenade.” Minxin “Joanne” Cai then sang a traditional song translated as “Hope.”
Jing “Corrine” Zhang amazed everyone with her closing guzheng performance. The guzheng, or Chinese zither, is a traditional instrument that lies flat and is about five to six feet long with usually 26 strings. Instead of playing a traditional song, Zhang played “Think of Me” (a love song remix).
She not only skillfully acheived different effects with the strings – she also knocked on the wood in between notes to create a percussion sound. Zhang has been playing the guzheng since she was 8, she said.
One lucky guest won $50 in their envelope at the end, representative of a Lunar New year tradition in which parents give children and young family members red envelopes with money inside.
