Overseas Chinese help promote CNY brand in US

SAN FRANCISCO: “Happy Chinese New Year”, a cultural brand initiated by the Chinese government to promote Chinese New Year culture overseas, is looking to integrate with overseas Chinese celebrations.

“With the support of Hubei provincial government and Wuhan municipal government, we are able to host the celebrations continually for almost 10 years,” said Frank Bo, president of Voice of Peace Chorus, based in Fremont, California.

A variety of shows rehearsed by Bo and his team were staged on Saturday night at the Jubilee Christian Center in San Jose, California.

Sponsored by the Hubei Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese and the Foreign Affairs Office of Wuhan City, the show invites more than 20 professional performers from China to stage shows alongside local artistes.

The performances include solo singing, dances, comic skits, Peking

opera and chorales.

It is expected to attract an audience of more than 3,000 people, according to Bo, who is also an adviser to the show’s organising committee.

“Chinese New Year has become popular beyond the Chinese community in recent years,” said Bo.

“We have seen larger and larger audiences every year.”

The brand of “Happy Chinese New Year” has been committed to attracting Americans to share in the festivities of the Chinese New Year since it was first introduced by China’s Ministry of Culture in the United States in 2010.

This year, dozens of cultural events, including variety shows, concerts, parades and exhibitions, are being organised in the San Francisco Bay Area, home to one of the largest Chinese communities in the United States.

San Francisco was the first US city to observe the Chinese lunar new year since Chinese immigrants arrived here over 150 years ago.

“It is quite different to celebrate here. It’s not a public holiday, which means we don’t have the day off,” said Bo, though he says he has seen changes in recent years.

“At the major shopping centres, there are Chinese New Year decorations and traditional food is available,” said Bo, who has lived in the US for over 30 years. — Xinhua

Cross-cultural celebration: A girl playing with a puppet dog during the ‘Lunar New Year Festival: Year of the Dog’ workshop at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.