Shanghai Week starts New Year fun

As the Lunar New Year approaches, a variety of celebratory events are unfolding.

"Happy Chinese New Year-Shanghai Week" invites New Yorkers to share in a sensory smorgasbord of celebratory and cultural activities from the vantage point of Shanghai, China's most modern city.

The series was kicked off on Tuesday by Chinese traditional cultural performances by university students in Shanghai at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York.

Chinese classical music, folk dance, traditional opera and martial arts were performed by teachers and students from various universities in Shanghai, allowing New York audiences a chance to experience Chinese folk arts.

To bring a "rich Lunar New Year flavor" to New York, six events will unfold in the city, home of the largest Chinese population outside of Asia.

"Lunar New Year (Feb 16 this year) is considered the most culturally rich traditional holiday in China, inspiring countless widely celebrated artistic works since ancient times. I hope that through the art performances and exhibitions we host, New York people would have a chance to experience Shanghai and then fall in love with China," said Bei Zhaojian, deputy director-general of the Shanghai Municipal Foreign Affairs Office.

Other events include Shanghai Film Week, Shanghai Screen Week, Shanghai Flavor intangible cultural heritage exhibition, Amazing Shanghai photo exhibition and Overlord musical theater performance.

The Shanghai Flavor fair will take place at Grand Central Station on Wednesday and Thursday, showcasing folk culture, cuisine, tourism, brands and intangible cultural heritage through photos, videos, performances and a variety of interactive activities.

To fully immerse audiences in the Shanghai Flavor experience, Grand Central Station will be transformed to evoke the feeling of being in Shanghai through the incorporation of haipai (Shanghainese style) elements, such as shikumen (a traditional Shanghainese architectural style) and the zigzagging Jiuqu Bridge of the City God Temple.

Craftspeople skilled in various Chinese folk arts will demonstrate unique contributions to the rich and distinct flavor of Shanghai's cultural heritage through paper cutting, knot tying, opera masks, aluminum paintings and dough sculptures.

Chefs from Shanghai will introduce quintessential Shanghainese snacks, such as steamed soup dumplings, wonton and glutinous rice balls. Visitors can take it one step further and enjoy a 3D experience of traditional Chinese cuisine through augmented reality technology.

The towering Nasdaq and Reuters digital screens in Times Square and the Citigroup screen located at the Bund in Shanghai will simultaneously feature excerpts of classical Chinese poetry celebrating the Lunar New Year, as well as other related media.

All events are free to attend, with the exception of the ticketed Overlord performances at the Asia Society.

An edition of the overseas Lunar New Year and the brand "Happy Chinese New Year" under the Chinese Ministry of Culture, the New York events are organized by the Shanghai Municipal Administration of Culture, Radio, Film & TV; the Foreign Affairs Office of the Shanghai Municipal People's Government; and the Information Office of the Shanghai Municipal Government, and sponsored by the Chinese Consulate General in New York.

xiaohong@chinadailyusa.com