Different generations of Chinese Americans came together Saturday to celebrate the new year among some of China’s most ancient artifacts.
The Penn Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology hosted an all-day celebration for the Chinese New Year on Saturday, drawing a diverse crowd of both Penn students and faculty and members of the wider community. The celebration featured performing arts groups and various workshops on aspects of Chinese culture — from calligraphy lessons to a Tai Chi demonstration.
The Penn Lions, a lion dance troupe, performed to open the day of festivity. At the end of their show, children giggled as they played with the group’s giant lion puppets.
Children were not the only ones having fun. During the performance, an elderly woman also started dancing and clapping next to the decorative beasts. She had come with a group of senior Chinese immigrants living in Philadelphia. For many of them, this was their first time visiting the museum, said Philip Lai, director of the Coffee Cup Senior Center — a community of elderly Chinese immigrants in Philadelphia.
Jingduan Yang, the director of Thomas Jefferson University’s Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine program, made attendees laugh about common ailments and the way the United States health care system treats them.
“They can remove a gallbladder. You still have a migraine? They can’t remove your head,” he joked.
He also broached more serious matters — such as health problems facing the Chinese — adding that China is catching up to America in terms of bad health.
Philadelphia Tai Chi artists from the Ba’z Tai Chi and Kung Fu Studio put on a demonstration of their craft. Lan Tran, a teacher at the studio who performed various defensive moves, lamented that Tai Chi had come to be seen as a healthy exercise rather than a martial art. Today, he is working to “promote martial arts in the days of guns,” hoping to preserve the tradition of martial arts in a society where weapons have become prevalent.
The event also drew patrons to its various ongoing exhibits. Haitao Wang, a Chinese researcher at the School of Medicine, visited the Silk Road exhibit with his family. He said he learned a few things about his country in the exhibit — China was “already a superpower” at the time of the Silk Road, he pointed out.
He added that this was his family’s first visit to the museum, despite his having worked at Penn for several years.
Some regulars came to the celebration as well. Alva Daley, a second-generation Chinese immigrant who lives in a Philadelphia suburb, visited the Egyptian section with her children. “We used to come here every year,” she said. “I want my children to be well-rounded.”
