Chinatown Rings in the Year of the Dragon

A dragon at the Chinese New Year parade in Chinatown

A dragon at the Chinese New Year parade in Chinatown.

It’s the Year of the Dragon in the Chinese calendar and on January 29, the annual Lunar New Year parade organized by the Better Chinatown Society took place in Manhattan’s Chinatown. The event was packed with thousands of New Yorkers and visitors ringing in the year of 4710. The Lunar New Year is the most important holiday on the Chinese calendar and is traditionally celebrated for two weeks. Reporter Larry Tung attended the parade in Chinatown and captured it in the following audio slideshow. Plus, listen to our Year of the Dragon Special Podcast – The Best Regional Chinese Restaurants in Flushing.

 

“Gong Shi Fa Tsai!”

That’s the standard New Year greeting in Mandarin. It means “best wishes and prosperity.”

AboutLarry Tung
A native of Taiwan, Larry Tung was a political reporter for the English-language Taiwan News before moving to New York in 2000. Upon receiving his M.F.A. in Television Production from Brooklyn College, he has been a journalist, an independent documentary filmmaker and an educator. His films have been shown in numerous film festivals in North America and Europe. Currently he writes a column on immigrant communities in New York City for the Online Journalism Award-winning Gotham Gazette. He also teaches video production at Kean University in Union, New Jersey.