Chinatown New Year's Parade Mixes Heritage, Fun

Kristina Lew lives in Montgomery County with her consultant husband, raising a family. But yesterday, she was back in her girlhood home, Chinatown, observing the Lunar New Year with hundreds of others drawn to the historic D.C. neighborhood for the annual parade.

"We come back to celebrate because this is where it all started," said Lew, 39, of Laytonsville, whose grandfather settled in downtown Washington upon his arrival from China.

Chinese consider this the beginning of 4705, the Year of the Pig. According to Chinese astrology, people born in this year are kind, honest, hardworking and lucky.

Despite frigid weather and scattered snowflakes, crowds up to five deep packed the sidewalks of Chinatown, watching in delight as colorful dragons danced and boys twirled diabolos, a kind of Chinese yo-yo. Many spectators waved flags of Taiwan, reflecting the influence of Taiwanese natives in the D.C. celebration.

For the uninitiated, the brief parade offered a glimpse of China's ancient culture.

"It's awesome," declared Parker Gray, 8, of Springfield, who has just started studying about China and attended the event with a friend to get "extra credit in our class."

For Lew and many other Asian Americans, the celebration held a deeper meaning: the chance to pass on their heritage to their children.

Her 9-year-old daughter, Kayla, and 13-year-old son, Jordan, marched with the Chinese Youth Club of Washington. Despite its name, the club consists mainly of young people from the suburbs, home to the overwhelming majority of the area's Asian American population.

"They think of it as fun," said Lew, who watched her children join several friends bobbing through the streets in big, brightly painted dragon heads. "But as they get older, they'll think of it as tradition."

Ruey-Pyng Lu, 50, a U.S. government statistician from Taiwan, accompanied a group of diabolo-twirling boys from a Chinese weekend school in Rockville. Lu said he stays involved with the school even though his children are grown.

"We want to give the language, the culture to the next generation," he said.

One of those twirling a diabolo, a big spool that slides along a string controlled by two sticks, was 14-year-old Will Chiang of Herndon. "When I saw this performed as a kid, it really fascinated me," he said. His family is from Taiwan, but he first saw the toy "at a mall in Iowa."

The parade included a broad mix of participants: the District-based Wong Chinese Boxing Association, whose members banged a loud drum; the Global Alliance for Democracy and Peace, a Great Falls-based group aimed at promoting democracy in China and Taiwan; and Falun Gong, a spiritual organization banned in China. Its members, in yellow pajama-like outfits, rhythmically banged red lacquered drums, the red streamers on their drumsticks fluttering in unison.

Bringing up the rear was the marching band from Ballou Senior High, a mostly African American school in Southeast Washington.

Everyone was Chinese for a day, apparently -- even D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D). He saluted the crowd with a "Gung Hay Fat Choy," Cantonese for Happy New Year.

Some Chinese astrologers believe this is a particularly auspicious "golden pig" year that occurs once every 60 years. Children born under its influence are said to be destined to have wealth and happiness.