From lantern decorating to dragon dancing to eating dumplings and hotpot, East’s Chinese community has had plenty to celebrate the weekend of Jan. 22 as the start of the Lunar New Year. Since 2023 honors the symbolic rabbit out of 12 animals in the zodiac cycle, students and their families are expecting 365 days of prosperity, contemplation, and peace and calm.
“Each zodiac year means something a little bit different for everyone. It just kind of represents your personality,” said senior Linda Wang, who was born in the year of the rooster. “Rabbits are witty and cautious, so people with this zodiac sign would have similar but also unique interpretations of their identity.”
This year students were excited to continue celebrations over the long weekend, marking the first time that the district has recognized a teacher work day in honor of the Chinese New Year, thanks in large part to the efforts of sophomore Teresa Fang. After a year of preparing proposals and coordinating with board members, Fang gave a speech on the public comments podium at a CHCCS Board of Education meeting Feb. 1, 2022. To a unanimous vote, the CHCCS district became the first in N.C. to recognize the Lunar New Year as a holiday.
“I couldn’t be prouder to make a difference in our community,” said Fang, who received support for her proposal from many public officials and organizations, from N.C. Representative Allen Buansi to the Chinese American Friendship Association (CAFA).
The success of her proposal also highlighted the welcoming nature of the community as a whole, and the outward warmth of the Asian community that has flourished in such a warm and inclusive environment, emphasized Fang.
“Lunar New Year was not just a celebration for one group of people, but also a historical mark in our town’s history: Chapel Hill recognizes the importance of being open to everybody,” she said. “This is an ode to the spirit of Lunar New Year in the first place: to honor our origins and share happiness with everybody around us. To us Asians, culture is our most precious aspect of life, and sharing it with others is a natural must.”
Observing tradition, but with a modern twist
While each annual celebration brings new reasons to celebrate and “become revitalized, especially after the dreary days of the pandemic,” according to Fang, many traditions remain a fixture of the holiday, such as eating dinner with family and wearing red as a symbol of good fortune for one’s zodiac year. Among the numerous customs they honor, many students appreciate this ancient tradition the most: the ritual of red pocket.
“Parents usually give these ornate red envelopes holding money to their children during the New Year,” explained junior Clare Zhang. “And then along with that, usually in China, relatives will go to each other’s houses and give different greetings and blessings. In the U.S., I call my relatives and even that simple act is very enjoyable.”
Depending on their family origins, Chinese students have varying customs as a result of regional differences. Senior Sandy Zhou was born in the U.S., but her parents and brother were born in Guangzhou. Coming from a Cantonese region in Southeast Asia, her traditions are slightly different from those practiced in central China.
“We pray and worship by giving offerings to our ancestors. There’s no temples here, but if we were in China, we’d go to temples and set up with our ancestors’ photos,” said Zhou, who is a member of Asian Pacific American club (APAC) and whose family owns the Hunam Chinese Restaurant. “We’d pray and light candles, and we’d offer food to our ancestors to demonstrate respect for them eating first. We’d also put up red paper with Chinese phrases.”
Meanwhile, Wang was born in Beijing, and emigrated to the U.S. when she was three years old.
“I grew up with American culture, but we still practice many traditions and superstitions,” she said. “Celebrating the New Year in Beijing, we would typically eat dumplings and then set off fireworks. But in the U.S., we eat these sticky rice dumplings that are meant to attract a lot of wealth and good fortune, and also good grades, because they’re sticky. We also eat really long noodles that are meant to represent longevity. It’s a bit silly, but many Chinese traditions revolve around a play on words.”
Zhang also marveled over the fact that so many Chinese customs stem from traditional proverbs.
“I want other people to know that Chinese culture is highly poetic, and that a variety of traditions come from different sayings. Especially during the Lunar New Year, many people give their blessings in idioms and many traditions stem from idioms too,” she said. “When I say ‘I eat fish,’ part of it comes from 年年有余, which means to have an abundance every year. The last word 余 sounds the same as 有, which means fish, so many families eat fish during the New Year. And then there are numerous other examples of sayings fusing with tradition.”
With an Asian population of 13 percent, Chapel Hill offers a range of events for Chinese as well as non-Chinese people to participate in Lunar New Year celebrations and strengthen connections within the community. Prior to the pandemic, the Light-Up Festival on Franklin Street and Global Connection nights at Smith Middle School were met with ample enthusiasm, while other festivities continue in light of COVID-19 precautions.
“I think there’s more opportunities to celebrate Chinese New Year here,” said sophomore Allison Tian. “The Chinese School at Chapel Hill holds a lot of events. There’s more New Year activities around Christmas time as well, including a lantern festival.”
Tian is also a member of the dragon dancing group that performs not only at Lunar New Year celebrations, but also at various parades throughout the year. Dragon dancing is an ancient custom hailing from the Han Dynasty, having originated as a form of ancestral veneration that transformed into spectacle. In Chinese culture, dragons symbolize wisdom, power and strength, as well as the masculine principle yang.
“I’m a part of the tail of the dragon, and it’s amazing to be a part of this beautiful, moving, winding creature that is so entrenched in tradition. You have to be very synchronized and work closely with your fellow dragon dancers,” Tian said. “I also love going to the events. You get to go to different parades and there’s food and you can help set up everything.”
Zhou emphasized the communal spirit of Lunar New Year celebrations that is highly inviting.
“Instead of always celebrating the Chinese New Year with your family and family friends, there’s so many people just out on the street celebrating,” she said. “I met a lot of people at the dragon dance at UNC, for example, that I didn’t know before and it’s just really nice to see people celebrating here, and just not being afraid to celebrate.”
For students like Wang who have lived in other communities with smaller Chinese populations, honoring Lunar New Year in Chapel Hill has been particularly meaningful.
“In recent years, I have felt much more appreciative of my culture and also embracing my own diversity, and I think the community in Chapel Hill and even at East really helped me recognize that,” Wang said.
Addressing anti-Asian and Chinese racism
Especially with the rise of anti-Asian and particularly anti-Chinese sentiment over the past several years as a result of COVID-19 and the spread of misinformation, celebration of the Lunar New Year has become all the more important, according to Chinese students. Although not classified as a hate crime, a Jan. 22 mass shooting caused the deaths of 10 people at a Chinese New Year parade in L.A.
While she has not personally experienced anti-Asian prejudice, Tian has indirectly encountered racism.
“I was talking with someone else in my dragon group, and at the last parade we did, which I wasn’t able to attend, apparently someone was following the dragon around and yelling racist remarks,” Tian said. “I feel like racist comments against Asians are more normalized, since they’re usually brushed off as jokes.”
Oftentimes in minority communities, acts of racism become experiences shared as collective sources of sadness, even if their painfulness is not directly felt. Senior Cindy Wan has witnessed racist acts, however small, impact others in her life.
“I’ve seen gruesome acts of Asian hate from the news. I personally have not experienced racism myself, but I’ve had people near me who’ve experienced racism,” she said. “One of my mom’s coworkers, who is Thai, was verbally attacked at a grocery store to ‘Go back to China’ while she was carrying her infant.”
Sophomore William Zhou, whose family is from Sichuan, affirmed the benefits of gaining Asian diversity, particularly in political roles, to combat exclusion.
“I think that across the U.S., there could be more Chinese and Asian-American mayors or senators. Even locally, I think having more Chinese or Asian government officials would be helpful for representation,” he said.
Other students like Sandy Zhou are optimistic about a more inclusive future for Asians, while also recognizing that prejudice inherently cannot be eliminated.
“All we can do is create awareness and fight back, but unfortunately even then, racism is still going to be a prominent issue and there’s no one solution to fix all this,” she said.
Despite widespread recognition of the Lunar New Year outside of school, many Chinese students feel that not enough attention or emphasis is placed within East’s curriculum. Students believe that learning about Chinese culture would promote admittance of their cultural identity, and suggest simple exposure through cultural activities in the classroom or PAC class, as well as education about the Lunar New Year.
“I really do think that teachers and administrators should showcase Asian culture more broadly at school, particularly for Chinese New Year,” Zhang said. “Although there’s numerous Chinese students at school, there doesn’t seem to be many announcements, and no one seems to be learning about it.”
Senior Kevin Peng, who was born in the U.S. with roots in East China, hopes to reveal his cultural experiences to his classmates as a first step toward better understanding and acceptance.
“I’d like to share some of my customs and be more expressive about my values. Lunar New Year is a big deal for us, and I want to be able to share some of the lessons and traditions that we have with other people, especially at school,” he said.
Wang felt that universally, regardless of emphasizing Chinese culture, expansion of the curriculum to highlight other ethnicities is important, and can be contextualized within familiar American customs.
“Broadening cultural awareness is always beneficial for diversity and celebrating different backgrounds. While Chinese New Year is a little different date wise from the traditional American New Year, it could be honored in class to encourage diversity in our school,” Wang said. “After all, Chinese New Year really is not that much different from other American traditions or celebrations. It’s slightly distinct, but I think we just celebrate our holidays in different ways, and they both can be appreciated and cherished.”
Looking ahead to future U.S.-China relations
Though relations between the U.S. and Chinese governments have improved, persistent tensions continue to threaten hopes for peaceful relations in the future, including disagreements over free trade, technology and Taiwan. In accordance with the Year of the Rabbit’s emphasis upon tranquility and peace, students expressed their hopes for further diplomacy and dialogue, despite acknowledgement of the difficulties of bridging the countries’ economic and political interests.
“At the very least, let’s hope for no war,” Sandy Zhou said. “I’ve accepted that we will never see eye to eye with each other, but I would just hope that whoever is president, we’ll have more honest and open communication.”
Other students have a physical as well as personal investment in seeing an improvement in U.S.-China relations.
“Hopefully the political friction will smooth out, and the Chinese Communist Party won’t be as aggressive and push for more expansionist policies,” William Zhou said. “If relations improve, then it’ll be easier for my family and I to return to China, because right now, it’s really hard to get a visa since the Chinese are embargoing anybody from the outside from coming back into the country due to COVID-19. I think if U.S.-China relations get better, then it’s a win-win for everyone.”
Photos courtesy of Allison Tian and Sandy Zhou
