Happy Chinese New Year

It is not too late to celebrate the New Year.

Canton resident and Taiwan native Li-Chun Han presented a lesson on the cultural theme of the Chinese New Year at the Saturday. Han has been a Chinese language teacher for many years and had over a dozen children from Canton engaged in the hands-on activities, including arts and crafts and storytelling.

The Chinese New Year began on February 3, 2011, explained Han. However, it is celebrated in Asian cultures for 15 days. There is still plenty of time to learn about this fun-filled and ancient cultural event. Every year, the Chinese New Year begins on a different date.  This is because, unlike the Western calendar, the Chinese calendar is lunar, and based on the phases of the moon. Next year the Chinese New Year will begin on January 23.

Han used several methods to interact with the children. One way to teach them the background of the Chinese Zodiac was through guided reading of children’s books.  These books, which can be found or reserved at the , included The Story of the Chinese Zodiac by Monica Chang, and The Pet Dragon, by Christopher Nieman.

Stories were not the only way that the Chinese New Year theme was explored. Several craft projects were made, each a discussion point of Chinese culture.  The children learned that the folk-lore behind the Chinese New Year related to a dark time of year when evil spirits lurked.  “It took away small kids, legend says…so my ancestors put a red pepper in the door and window so the Evil Spirit could not come in the door on New Year’s eve,” Han told the kids.

The children made a symbol of good luck, a red paper-ornament, that would traditionally serve the same purpose. It is to be hung in the window. No small matter: it must be hung upside down in order for the good luck to enter. The particular design of the ornament depicted the symbol for “Spring," which every one who is sick of this snow winter would be happy to welcome to their home.

Other projects included making a Chinese “firecracker” using the symbolic colors of red and gold. “Gold brings a lot of money, a lot of fortune,” Han cheerfully told the children. 

Many of the children in attendance were already familiar with the Chinese New Year holiday and the language. In recent years, more and more young children have taken up the language as an after-school activity, explained Han.

Maribel Powell, director of a Canton based after-school language program called attended the event.  She emphasized the importance of second-language skills as an asset to children in all areas of verbal communication.

“The younger the better,” Powell said.  “If they can start foreign languages under 11-years-old, it helps in both that language and in any future language that they study” at a later age.

Alexander Smith, 6, of Canton, is one such studious fellow. “I study for 17 minutes a day,” he said. Among his motivations? “If you do it every day in one month, you’ll get a prize.”

“Because Chinese is such a different language than the Western languages, it is a good way to expose kids to something totally different,” Han added. With a culture stemming back over 5,000 years, the library's New Year celebration was a great introduction to an ancient tradition.

Han and Powell hope to begin offering a Chinese language course for Canton children in the near future, if there is enough community interest.