{"id":1080,"date":"2018-03-25T17:49:25","date_gmt":"2018-03-25T17:49:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/record\/?p=1080"},"modified":"2018-07-25T17:53:16","modified_gmt":"2018-07-25T17:53:16","slug":"lunar-new-year-assembly-rings-in-the-year-of-the-dog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/record\/2018\/03\/25\/lunar-new-year-assembly-rings-in-the-year-of-the-dog\/","title":{"rendered":"Lunar New Year Assembly Rings in the Year of the Dog"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Felicia Ho (V)<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Weaving through the packed audience, the Form II Chinese class opened up the Lunar New Year Assembly with a lively performance of a traditional dragon dance. Dragons are recognized as auspicious creatures in Chinese legend and symbolize good luck for the New Year. The Lunar New Year, also known as the Spring Festival, begins on February 16 of the Gregorian Calendar, or the 23<\/span>rd<\/span> day of the twelfth lunar month. It lasts around 23 days according to old folk tradition, ending on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month of the New Year. Based on the Chinese Zodiac twelve-year cycle, this year also marks the arrival of the Year of the Dog. <\/span><\/p>\n

Brian Li (IV) and Natalie DeVito (II) served as the announcers for the assembly, setting the tone for the rest of the program by noting that the Lunar New Year is an important time of reunion and celebration. <\/span><\/p>\n

First, Ethan Chung (VI) on the cello and Rebecca Lin (VI) on the violin performed a duet entitled \u201cSwan Geese.\u201d DeVito described the meaning of the title as \u201cswans migrating home as spring approaches\u2026 as do so many people around the world as they return to their families during the Lunar New Year.\u201d To bridge the gap between old traditions and new ways, Lin and Megan Pan (VI) performed an excerpt of the popular K-pop song \u201cTomorrow, Today\u201d from the JJ Project. B. Li explained the song as \u201ctelling the feelings of youth and highlighting the difficulty of making decisions about the future.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Taiko Drumming Club delivered a rendition of \u201cMatsuri,\u201d a piece often played at Japanese festivals. The performance featured solos by Michael Gallagher (V), Pan, and Justin Li (III). Although Taiko drums are widely known as Japanese percussion instruments, they have Chinese and Korean roots, having been introduced to Japan in the 6<\/span>th<\/span> century CE. In closing, to celebrate the diversity of the Chinese people, the Purple Swans Dance Troupe, a performing arts group dedicated to spreading Chinese culture that features many members of the Pingry community, performed a dance entitled the \u201cDelicate Beauty of the Hui Maiden.\u201d This dance represents the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region in north-central China, a region that is home to a large indigenous Chinese Muslim population. <\/span><\/p>\n

Before dismissing the assembly, B. Li and DeVito wished everyone \u201cXin nian kuai le,\u201d which in Mandarin means \u201cHappy New Year!\u201d Gong xi fa cai and have a prosperous New Year. Welcome to the Year of the Dog. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Felicia Ho (V) Weaving through the packed audience, the Form II Chinese class opened up the Lunar New Year Assembly with a lively performance of a traditional dragon dance. Dragons are recognized as auspicious creatures in Chinese legend and symbolize good luck for the New Year. The Lunar New Year, also known as the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":532,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[68,90,10],"class_list":["post-1080","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-school-news","tag-assembly","tag-lunar-new-year","tag-school-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/record\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1080","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/record\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/record\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/record\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/record\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1080"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/record\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1080\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1082,"href":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/record\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1080\/revisions\/1082"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/record\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/532"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/record\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/record\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/record\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}