Anyway you say it it is Happy New Year in Chinese.

Our annual New Year Celebration was crackling with excitement. Hosted at the Hackensack Middle School on February 10, 2008, we had record attendance on hand.

The day began with our parents sharing their many delicacies from their family secret recipes. The bubble tea was definitely a big hit. Dumplings, noodles, appetizers, vegetarian, cured meats, soups, deserts were in abundance. Over 100 different types of food were available to the public.

Our hallways were filled with students' work displays. There were exhibits of Chinese paintings and Japanese flower arrangements created by our adult education classes. Clay master Mr. David Lee, using traditional techniques made animal, flower and Pokemon figurines delighting young and old. Other exhibitors were also displaying educational and cultural products.

The Celebration included performances from the three Chinese schools, Bergen, Bohua and Columbia. As with tradition, the Bergen Chinese School Lion Dance Troupe kicked off the performances. We were treated to another amazing performance with a new stunt; lion dancing on stilts. The two lion performers reached to the height of the auditorium stage to unfurl a Happy New Year banner. We can always count on Sifu Henry Lee for spectacular and innovative performances. The Deputy Director General of TECO Vincent Chi, performed the special “eye opening” ceremony to inaugurate the two new lions.

The Masters of Ceremony for the evening included Teacher Sunny Lee’s senior class members. Students from all three schools took the stage to the delights of the audience and parents. The King Lai Cultural Dance Group added beauty and grace with traditional Chinese dances. Spectacular Chinese Yo-Yo (diabolo) juggling from several students wowed the audiences with tosses and tricks. The Shaolin Kung Fu exhibition was an aerial act of kicks, twisting kicks and flying kicks. We had no idea that those sweet little students of our can strike with lightening speed.

After the performances, the evening was capped off with more food and raffling. Our chairman Baowen Yang donated a round-trip airline ticket to China as a top prize. Over 50 prizes were raffled off. This year, we added the Tricky Tray. This was very popular with the crowd.

This event was made possible by parents, students, performers and numerous volunteers. This event was supported by generous sponsorship from TECO, NJ Chinese Cultural Studies Foundation, JP Morgan Chase, exhibitors and friends of Chinese Service Center –USA.

<Back to New & Event>