Lunar New Year Celebration

Join us for this Asian celebration of change and the Year of the Rabbit! Lion Dancers, Red Panda Acrobats, Martial Arts, Kids Arts & Crafts, Food & More! FREE!

Between the exciting performances listed below, kids and families can enjoy a great number of fun activities. Participants can learn to say a simple Chinese phrase for New Year Wishes and write “Spring Arriving” in Chinese, practice how to use chopsticks from picking up new year “lucky” food and then make paper boats from chopsticks wrappers, get a quick lesson in recognizing Chinese numbers from 1-10 and play Mahjong, play Chinese traditional folk arts and Chinese chess, and more.

Performance Schedule

11:00am  Opening Ceremonies
Kristen Sze of ABC7 Morning News and Redwood City Mayor Ira will welcome everyone to Redwood City’s first Lunar New Year Celebration. Kristen co-anchors the ABC7 Morning News with Eric Thomas and co-anchors the ABC7 Midday News with Cheryl Jennings, which won the 2009-2010 Northern California Emmy award for best daytime newscast. She also reports for Assignment 7 on ABC7 News at 6.

11:15am  Shaolin Culture Center -
lion dancers, martial artists and more!
Kung Fu is Chinese term for "martial art", it can also be called "Wu Shu".  The holy Shaolin temple of the Buddhism was established about 1600 years ago on the mountain of Sung. 

12:00am  Somei Yoishino Taiko Ensemble
Somei Yoshino Taiko Ensemble (SYTE), founded in 1999, goes beyond the beat of the taiko drum to use music, theater and dance as a medium to express the human condition as it relates to its environment, community and its future. Since its founding, SYTE has worked in collaboration with choreographers, composers, designers and musicians from all genres. The name of the company, Somei Yoshino, represents one of the most beautiful cherry blossom trees in Japan. TAIKO is the Japanese word for drum and is a musical instrument whose history goes back about 2,000 years to ancient Japan. It has gone through an amazing evolution in arriving at the way it is played and used today.

1:00pm  Red Panda Acrobats
The Red Panda Acrobats was formed in 1990 in Shanghai, China. The members are professionally trained from China. Since their first performance in the United States in 1991, the troupe continues to perform year-round in a variety of venues, including corporate and company events, fairs, festivals, sporting events, school assemblies, and TV shows. Although the group is based in the San Francisco Bay area, the Red Panda Acrobats have traveled throughout the nation and overseas performing for well known companies such as Disney World, EPCOT Center, Apple Computer, and Las Vegas Casinos. They have appeared on various television shows internationally, including the Incredible Acrobats, London Television; China's Best Acrobats, Shanghai Television; the Crook & Chase Show; Mornings Live on 2, KTVU-Channel 2, San Francisco; and many more.

2:00pm  California Kung Fu & Tai Chi Institute
The goal of California Kung Fu & Tai Chi is to promote both the physical and spiritual growth in our students by teaching both the external and internal martial arts styles. Our ultimate goal is to enhance a student's life through the understanding and application of the values and discipline taught in the Chinese Martial Art styles, traditions and culture.

2:30pm  Cooking Demonstration from Yan Can Asian Bistro - Cory Chen, Executive Chef
Martin Yan, of the Yan Can Cook Show, is an iconic Asian cooking show that has entertained and educated American TV audiences for decades, has just been named one of the Greatest TV Cooking Shows of all time by the popular culinary website slashfood.com.

Earlier this year, Cory Chen joined the Yan Can Asian Bistro as their new executive chef.  He will oversee the kitchens at the bistro in Pleasant Hill's Downtown Center and Rivermark Plaza in Santa Clara. Cory is a UC Davis graduate, and he brings considerable culinary experience to his new post, including a stint as a sushi sous chef and studies in wine making at the University of Burgundy, France.

  3:00pm  Closing Ceremony