The Imperial Theatre's 2020 Chinese New Year poster (Image: Imperial Theatre)
The 2020 Chinese New Year Gala, co-organized by the Greater Saint John Chinese Cultural Association and Jasmine Performing Arts Group, will welcome in the new lunar year.
The Chinese Cultural Association (CCA) has celebrated the Chinese New Year for the past twenty years.
“We did it as a dinner and entertainment, so it was not like the Gala we host at the Imperial Theatre,” said Wenmei Li, head of the association’s charitable projects, when reflecting on the new year celebrations in the early 2000s.
At the time they rented a venue where they had the dinner and performances, and it was a popular event.
“In 2017 [the new year celebrations moved]…to the Imperial Theatre.” “It is a beautiful building and really highlights and increases the quality of the show,” she added, with the celebrations becoming the Chinese New Year Gala.
Li is part of the Jasmine Performing Arts Group, an independent dance group and non-profit organization promoting multiculturalism and diversity established in 2013.
The Jasmine Performing Arts Group’s 2019 New Year Gala performance (Image: CCA)
The group participate in and attend local events, such as Asian Heritage, regularly perform for Saint John’s senior homes and tour throughout New Brunswick, from St. Stephen to Bathurst, and were invited to perform in PEI.
Inspired by the Jasmine Performing Arts Group’s donation to The GIVE Campaign at the Saint John Regional Hospital Foundation in 2018, CCA President David Xu turned the Gala into a fundraiser. 2019 was the first year the Gala fundraised for charity, which they donated to The GIVE Campaign. and Xu invited the group to perform at the 2020 Gala.
“I think he did a great job, in his first year of the Gala. His team and his committee decided to do this project of turning the Gala to the charity and helped the Senior Regional Hospital,” said Li.
The Jasmine Performing Arts Group’s 2019 New Year Gala performance (Image: CCA)
“We worked together and he has done a lot of work on sponsorship and behind the scenes, and [Jasmine’s] responsibility is to organize the entire show.”
The Chinese New Year for 2020 is particularly special because the Chinese lunar calendar begins anew with the Year of the Rat and based on a twelve-year cycle, with each year associated with an animal.
A popular Chinese folk tale explaining the order tells of the Jade Emperor inviting all the animals in the world to take part in a race. The animals who turned up were rewarded by having a year in the cycle named after each one, with the race determining the order each animal would be placed.
The twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac are the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat/sheep, monkey, rooster, dog and pig.
2020 is the Year of the Rat (Image: CCA)
The rat was the first of the twelve animals to cross the finish line, which is why it is the first animal in the Chinese zodiac and is considered a very lucky animal in China. The Japanese manga Fruits Basket (1998-2006), written and illustrated by Natsuki Takaya, puts a unique spin in the folk tale.
“We usually say the rat has strong vitality…they are very strong, very tough, a very, very smart animal.”
The Chinese New Year Gala is a jubilant reflection of Saint John’s embrace of new cultures and their traditions.
“We like Saint John because Saint John is such a nice community; the people are very nice, very kind, and they all welcome our newcomers,” said Li.
“We would also like to share our culture and to welcome our local people to join us to celebrate this very important event together.”
The 2020 Chinese New Year Gala will be held at the Imperial Theatre from 2:00PM-4:00PM on December 18th.
