Asian Student Association rings in the Year of the Ox

While New Year's 1997 means resolutions and midnight countdowns for some, it means dragon masks and firecrackers for many others. According to Chinese tradition, February 7 will usher in the Year of the Ox, and the University Museum and Asian Student Association held a day-long program Saturday to celebrate the event. The festivities -- which ranged from music demonstrations and Kung Fu displays to a firecracker workshop -- began at 11:30 a.m. and continued until 3:30 p.m. Although the event was free to PennCard holders, it attracted many Philadelphia residents who arrived with children in tow. One of the program's highlights was a T'ai Chi demonstration. Held in the Lower Egyptian Gallery, amongst sphinxes, mummies and other remnants of ancient African civilizations, the traditional Chinese exercise provided an intriguing contrast in culture. A small group of students under the tutelage of Philadelphia and New York teacher Maggi Newman, demonstrated solo form, T'ui Shou (push hands), the sword form and sword dueling, turning and twisting their bodies in silence while young children ran around the room imitating them. "In T'ai Chi, we exchange energy with one another, while remaining in harmony," Newman told the audience. Meanwhile, upstairs in the Chinese Rotunda, children pulled their parents towards the arts and crafts table, where pipe cleaners and beads waited to be fashioned into snakes and dragons. "These are animals of the Chinese Zodiac," explained Yu Yang, who hails from Philadelphia's sister city of Tian-Jin in Eastern China, and directed the effort. "I thought [the arts and crafts] was really cool," said 6-year-old Kylie Smith. "I really liked making the dragon." Nearby, Diana Yin, also from Tian-Jin, wove bookmarks as part of a weaving demonstration. Sewing beads and designs into the thread, she described her art as an "ancient Chinese craft," and explained that the patterns "reflect [those] found on Chinese money." Next door a different sort of weaving was taking place. Mann-Li, a native of Taiwan, braided red, gold and purple ribbon together in an art "many centuries old," creating a variety of designs, most notably the traditional fish. At another popular event, the calligraphy table, a long line of people waited while three women, poised with black pens and red paper, jotted down names, phrases or special words in the graceful strokes of the Chinese writing style. One of the women, Ni Luo, also from Tian-Jin, explained that Chinese calligraphy has "existed for over two thousand years," passed on from one generation to the next through "primary school lessons." She added that the "enjoyment of sharing her mother tongue," had brought her to the Museum. In the Mesopotamia Gallery across the hall from the Rotunda, the haunting melodies of Chinese music wafted out from between photographs and paraphernalia recording the golden age of archeology. Kurt Jang and Anna Chan, performers from the local Philadelphia and New Jersey area, played the Gu-Zheng, a "Chinese zither" which dates back to the Imperial court, and the Er-hu and Hu-Chin ("the Chinese two string fiddle") which are traditional folk instruments. Jang noted that the instruments, intricately carved and constructed from snake skin and multi-toned wood, "haven't changed for over two thousand years."