A celebration for a time of promise

Spring Festival enjoys a growing global profile with recent UNESCO heritage recognition. Zhao Xu explores the cultural roots of this age-old tradition and how it has evolved over time.

By Zhao Xu | China Daily | Updated: 2025-01-22 15:18
Share
Share - WeChat
A black-and-white photograph shows Chinese immigrants perform a dragon dance on a bustling American street to celebrate the festival in the early 20th century. [Photo/China Daily]

In an early 20th-century black-and-white photograph of the festival, a puppet dragon weaves in serpentine movements down a bustling American street, flanked by storefronts adorned with English signs.

Performed during Chinese New Year celebrations for over a millennium, the dragon dance likely evolved from ancient rituals meant to invoke the blessings of the dragon, a symbol of power believed to bring rain and ensure a bountiful harvest.

The performers in the picture, manipulating the dragon puppet made of cloth stretched over a multi-segmented bamboo framework, likely practiced this tradition in their native Chinese villages before emigrating to the United States, where many usually found work as railroad builders and laundry workers.

Chinese New Year became one of the rare occasions when these hardworking yet often-overlooked individuals could make their presence known — loudly and proudly. That's perhaps why, even when local ordinances forbade firecrackers, some defiantly banged pots and pans, reclaiming a space for their cultural memory, both in and outside the Chinatown.

By honoring that collective memory, they passed it down to their descendants who, not without much struggle, forged a new identity in their adopted home to carry that heritage forward. Over time, they transformed the festival into a global phenomenon participated by the Chinese diaspora worldwide.

|<< Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next   >>|

Related Stories

Top
BACK TO THE TOP
English
Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

Registration Number: 130349
FOLLOW US
主站蜘蛛池模板: xxxxx免费视频| 国产v片免费播放| 一本色道无码道在线观看| 真正国产乱子伦高清对白 | 欧美精品香蕉在线观看网| 婷婷五月综合缴情在线视频| 久青草无码视频在线观看| 漂亮人妻洗澡被公强| 四虎影视永久免费视频观看| www.欧美xxx| 在线视频你懂的国产福利| 久久久久亚洲av成人网人人软件 | 国产成人综合欧美精品久久| 久久久久久中文字幕| 精品91自产拍在线| 国产精品成人扳**a毛片| 两个男gay的做污污的过程| 日韩精品高清在线| 四虎影视大全免费入口| 婷婷六月天在线| 夜夜揉揉日日人人| 中文字幕无码人妻aaa片| 月夜直播在线看片www| 亚洲第一区在线| 老师上课跳d突然被开到最大视频| 国产福利一区二区三区在线视频 | 人人爽天天爽夜夜爽曰| 老司机带带我懂得视频| 国产女人的高潮国语对白| 2021乱理片宅它网| 日本xxx片免费高清在线| 亚洲伊人久久大香线蕉在观| 男女下面无遮挡一进一出| 国产AV无码专区亚洲AV麻豆| 91香蕉视频污在线观看| 成人无码精品1区2区3区免费看| 五月天在线婷婷| 欧美极品另类高清videos| 免费成人福利视频| 老子影院dy888午夜| 国产另类在线观看|