Chinese plan celebrations for international New Year
Area residents help organize Delaware County's part in the annual 17-city event
By Dan Russo
STAFF WRITER
January 18, 2006
Frank Tian Xie and Lily Sun are local Chinese Americans who are planning to open the Year of the Dog with the colorful grandeur of an ancient land.
Xie, of Drexel Hill, and Sun, of Havertown, are first-generation immigrants involved in the planning of the third annual international Chinese New Year Celebration sponsored by New Tang Dynasty television network.
The non-profit company based in New York broadcasts Chinese-focused news and cultural programming around the world in 13 different languages.
Locally, it can be seen on channel 35 WYBE where it serves some of the estimated 50,000 Chinese living in Pennsylvania, according to Xie.
The network has coordinated a Global Gala each Chinese New Year since 2004. This year's regional event in Wilmington Jan. 24 will feature traditional dance and music. It will be part of an effort spanning 16 cities world-wide.
"We are the local hosts," said Xie, who is president of the Greater Philadelphia Asian Culture Center. "This year's theme is legend and myth."
Last year's local celebration held in Madison Square Garden drew about 35,000 people, 70 percent of whom were Westerners, Sun said.
"We're trying to build bridges," said Sun. "The hosts speak both English and Chinese."
Both Xie and Sun got involved in the Gala to help counter some of the cultural and political oppression they say characterizes their homeland at the moment.
Xie came to America in 1986 as a student about three years before the Tiannamen Square Massacre brought attention to the repression of the communist government. He now teaches at Drexel University.
Sun came to the U.S. several years ago and now works as a biomedical researcher. Before coming here, she says she experienced harassment because of her ties to the Falun Gong religious movement. The group, along with other faith based groups, is targeted by the government, she said.
Although both recognize changes since they left, they say social control is still part of the Communist agenda.
"The economy is progressive, but still, the government is falsifying data," said Xie. "What's shown in China is heavily influenced by communist doctrine. It's not real Chinese culture."
The aim of the Gala, therefore, is to emphasize culture from 5,000 years of Chinese history before Communism.
Xie said much of this legacy, including the remnants of a golden age known as the Tang Dynasty, was purged during the cultural revolution earlier in the 20th century.
Xie remembers living through this tumultuous time as a child. He now has a passion to revitalize traditional values as president of the culture center. One of its recent accomplishments was to bring "The National Treasures of Chinese Art" to Philadelphia's Chinatown in July, 2005, Xie said.
The Chinese calendar is founded on the lunar cycle, and each year is marked by an animal. The official new year is Jan. 29.
The traditional visitations and festivities surrounding the day are celebrated by a quarter of the world's population and last several weeks, according to Xie.
The regional gala will begin at 7 p.m. Jan. 24 at the Grand Opera House in Wilmington. For ticket information, call 215 -5281711 or visit www.gala.ntdtv.com
The Greater Philadelphia Asian Culture Center can be reached at 215-895-2809.