Huntington to host Chinese New Year festival Feb. 5 & 6

Visitors can experience the beauty of Chinese music, dance, and culture at a Chinese New Year festival on Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 5–6, at The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens. Ushering in the Year of the Rabbit, the festival gets under way on Feb. 5 at 11 a.m. (grounds open at 10:30 a.m.) with an exuberant performance by lion dancers and drummers near the north entrance to the Chinese garden. Other activities will include Chinese shadow puppet theater, mask-changing (bian lian) performances, music, folk songs, children’s book readings, painting and calligraphy demonstrations, and more. Visitors on Saturday can also purchase freshly cut flowers—a traditional way to celebrate the Chinese New Year. Activities on both days will be ongoing until 4:30 p.m.

The Huntington’s Chinese garden, the Garden of Flowing Fragrance, will be one of the focal points of the festival. Inspired by the traditional scholar’s gardens of Suzhou, China, this breathtaking landscape features a large lake, tile-roofed pavilions, stone bridges, a tea shop, and native Chinese plants set against a wooded backdrop of mature oaks, redwoods, and pines.

SCHEDULE OF ACTIVITIES:
(except where noted, activities are offered both days)

Lion dancers
11 a.m., 1 p.m., & 3 p.m.
Brown Garden lawn
(near Chinese garden entrance)

Shadow puppet theater
11 a.m. & noon
Friends’ Hall

String & Bamboo Orchestra
11 a.m.–12:30 p.m.
Chinese garden

Chinese brush painting demonstrations
11 a.m.–2 p.m.
Library lawn


Calligraphy demonstrations
11 a.m.–4 p.m.
Boone Gallery foyer


Children’s book reading/signing:Pauline Tsui, Grandpa’s Treasure Box

Saturday: 11:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m.
and 3:30–4:30 p.m.
Sunday: 3:30–4:30 p.m.
Overseers’ Room

Children’s book reading/signing:Oliver Chin, Year of the Rabbit

*Sunday only*
11:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m.
Overseers’ Room

Tai chi demonstrations
12:30 & 2:30 p.m.
Rose Garden lawn

Children’s folk songs performance
(students in grades K-2 from Pasadena Unified School District’s Mandarin Dual-Language Immersion Program)

1:30–1:50 p.m.
Chinese garden
Mask-changing
2 & 3 p.m.
Friends’ Hall

Chinese Music Ensemble
(from UCLA’s Herb Alpert School of Music)
2:30–4 p.m.
Chinese garden

Flower market
*Saturday only*All day – Entrance pavilion area

Folk art demonstrations(artists from Chongqing, China)
All day – Chinese garden

Penjing display (miniature trees & rockery) courtesy of the Southern Breeze Society

All day – Chinese garden

Scavenger hunt for children
All day



All festival activities are included with general admission to The Huntington: $20 adults, $15 seniors, $10 students (age 12-18), $6 youth (age 5-11), and free for children under 5. The group rate is $14 per person for groups of 15 or more. Members are admitted free. For additional information call (626) 405-2100 or visit www.huntington.org.

East West Bank is the corporate sponsor of the event. Additional funding provided by the Justin Vajna Memorial Fund for Educational Programs in the Chinese Garden. Special sponsorship has been provided by ICN TV Network enabling a delegation of artists from Chongqing, China, to demonstrate traditional arts.