Year of the Monkey arriving in Washington

Not feeling the mood Chinese New Year celebration in Washington? The scenes at the Smithsonian American Art Museum on Saturday told a different story.

Just as the door opened at 11:30am, crowds, mostly parents with young children, poured into the Kogod Courtyard of the Greek Revival architecture.

Inside the enclosed courtyard with glass canopy, lion dancers from Johns Hopkins University were getting ready. After a brief lion awakening ceremony in front of the crowds participated by Chinese Ambassador to the US Cui Tiankai, Smithsonian Institution Under Secretary for History, Art and Culture Richard Kurin and American Art Museum Director Elizabeth Broun, the lion dance, a traditional program to celebrate the Chinese New Year, proceeded to the main stage, accompanied by the sound of drum and gong and traditional Chinese folk music.

A suona (a double-reeded horn) solo of the Lantern Festival, a flute solo of Hanging Red Lanterns followed by erhu (Chinese two-string fiddle) solo of New Horse Racing, performed by artists from central China’s Henan province, filled the 28,000-square-feet space of the courtyard with Chinese New Year festive mood. Many parents standing in the back of the huge crowds had to ride their children on their shoulders to see the performance.

Matts Wycoff, holding on shoulders his two-year-old son Max dressed in bright silk Chinese costume, was among the crowds. "We enjoyed the dragon dance, we saw the panda, the moneky," said Wycoff, with his wife Michelle standing next to him. The family was travelling from Arizona. Many people often mistakenly refer lion dance as dragon dance.

"I had experienced seven or eight Chinese New Years already and Max is still learning how to say gung hey fat choi (a Cantonese greeting wishing people a prosperous New Year)," said Wycoff, his wife half Vietnamese and half Chinese.

Nearby, four-year-old Asa Darlington was playing with a chunk of yellow dough. "I am making a monkey. This is the Year of the Monkey," he said. At the table, 73-year-old Zhang Xihe, better known for his nickname Nihou Zhang (Monkey Figurine Zhang), was tutoring children how to make monkey figurines.

There are more than a dozen tables like that in the courtyard filled with children learning and practicing everything from paper cutting, farmers’ painting, calligraphy, mask coloring, Chinese knot making and lantern making.

Callun DeLele, 4, was almost done in making a red paper lantern. "I made it by myself," he said, with a sense of pride written on his face.

In another corner, Christina Trifonova, a woman from Rockville, Maryland, was putting on a colorful Chinese costume with the help of a volunteer. Her two daughters, nine-year-old Ales and five-year-old Sinona, were already dressed up. They then posed for multiple photos.

"It’s really interesting for us to learn something from different country and culture," said Trifonova, who said they were in a hurry to catch the next lion dance.

Richard Kurin, the under secretary of Smithsonian Institution, said his institution is dedicated to understanding people and culture, the tradition, the values, the aspiration of people around the world, history, art and the music. "So this is part of our regular program respecting the people and culture of the world," he said.

"We want people to come together, to understand each other and celebrate each other’s culture," said Kurin.

Two years ago, the Smithsonian Institution held a Chinese Folk Art Festival on the National Mall, drawing a million visitors. "We are very grateful for that," Kurin said, referring to the Chinese artists coming to the festival.

In addition to the Saturday event at the American Art Museum, similar Chinese New Year celebrations to greet the Year of the Monkey, which falls on Feb 8 this year, will also be held in the surrounding areas, at Delaware State University in Dover on Sunday, Country Club Mall in Cumberland, Maryland on Feb 3, in Virginian Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, Virginia, on Feb 13 and at the Kennedy Center in Washington from Feb 5-8, including a concert by the Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra.