Chinese New Year
Description:
At this time, Chinese people living in America gather together to sit at a table with a traditionally large family, chat with relatives and friends over a cup of tea.
The Chinese themselves call the New Year the Chonjie Spring Festival, and it lasts three weeks. To proclaim the beginning of the New Year, Chinese astronomers focus on the phases of the moon.
Since ancient times, during the Chinese New Year in January or February, the Chinese have been doing house cleaning first. Traditionally, the house could not be washed until after the holidays, otherwise the luck received in the new year can be washed away.
Then they saw off the old year with lion dances and pops. During the festivities, other non-Chinese residents also joined the fun in Chinatowns. When the clock struck the last minute, everyone at the same time blew up pops, set fire to paper and thus drove away evil spirits.
Year after year, foreign Chinese students and their friends celebrate the New Year not only according to European, but also according to Chinese standards.
To the sounds of Chinese folk music, all invited students and professors say goodbye to the outgoing year and make wishes.
Among the entertainments are folk songs of the Middle Kingdom, competitions of dexterity with chopsticks for food, a demonstration of the art of calligraphy and much more. The main goal pursued by the faculty of the college, encouraging the organization of such celebrations, is to strengthen the international atmosphere of learning.
Today, one of the largest Chinatowns in the world is New York Chinatown. It is inhabited by 70 to 150 thousand people (the exact number).
New York Chinatown is located in the eastern part of Manhattan on an area of almost 4 square kilometers. And, of course, it is this part of the United States that has the most tumultuous celebration of the Chinese New Year.