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  • Seventh grade students at Casey Middle School received glimpses into Chinese culture Monday, which was the first day of the new year in China. Monday was the kick-off of the Year of the Dragon. ALLEN PARKER/REGISTER-NEWS

    Chinese New Year
January 24, 2012

Students learn about the Chinese New Year

BY ALLEN PARKER allen.parker@register-news.com

MT. VERNON — —  Casey Middle School students received a taste of Chinese culture Monday, the first day of the Chinese New Year.

“Its very exciting for me to see the kids interested in Chinese culture,” said Sophia Shen, who is from China and teaches Chinese language and culture at the school.

Shen, in her second year at Casey, said she brought many more cultural items for students to become familiar with on the first day of the Chinese New Year.

China, which follows the lunar calendar, began its 15 day celebration of the Year of the Dragon. Every 12 years marks a cycle, according to Shen. The last Dragon Year was 2000.

One of the items Shen had for the children were red bracelets which signifies those who were born in the Year of the Dragon. Shen also had Fu, which symbolizes happiness in the new year. The Chinese, she said, display them throughout their homes. Photos of the “Dragon Dance” were also displayed along with Chinese knots and lanterns. Shen said the knots, which are a type of design made from yarn, symbolize union.

“Families hang the knots around their homes. It symbolizes unions of family. It is also used by younger couples getting married,” Shen said.

Chinese Lanterns represent the fifteenth day of the year, the Lantern Festival, Shen noted.

Also on display were fish and peppers. Both resemble decorative craft items that would hang inside a house.

“Every family has fish hanging in their house. The fish symbolizes surplus. A lot of money, food, clothes. When hung, it means the family will not lack of anything in the new year. Peppers are a symbol of better life.”

With the peppers, red packets are given to children. Traditionally, money is included inside the packets.

“During the new year, all of the kids get red packets,” Shen said.

Calligraphy and paper art were also displayed amongst the activity tables.

“The art is traditional Chinese art which represents the year; dragon, rabbit, tiger, things like that,” Shen noted.

The calligraphy is made from Xuan paper.

One of the more popular games Shen had set up was the moving of candy from one box to another with chopsticks. If successfully transported, the student’s reward was getting to keep the candy. Another popular item were “spinning hankies.” Shen said the hankies are used during dances and are also passed through the air to other dancers who would catch and spin the “handkerchief.”

Peking Opera Masks, which are hand-painted, detail different characters in a given opera. Each color on the mask represents a character trait of the person in the opera.

The jian zi or shuttle cock, is similar to the American “hackey sack,” a toy which is kicked and kept in the air with a person’s feet.

“The kids really enjoyed many of these activities last year,” said Shen. “So, this year I brought many more. If I stay, I will do it again next year.”

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Anne Craig, director of the Illinois State Library and Dennis DeRosset, executive director of the Illinois Press Association presented an award to Yaro Hospodarsky of Ina for his work as volunteer with the Adult Literacy Program at Rend Lake College. Hospodarsky was one of 20 winners throughout the state of Illinois who were recognized for their work in the 2012 Spotlight Literacy Awards.

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