Lunar New Year Celebration @Central

Celebrate the Year of the Fire Horse w/ lion dancers, author storytimes, vendors, and other performances!

Celebrate the Year of the Fire Horse with our Lunar New Year Celebration at Central, February 28th!

Performances and Story Times 12-3:30PM (schedule subject to change):

• 12:00 PM Leung's White Crane Lion Dancers
• 12:30 PM Cal Fei Tian Dancers
• 1:00 PM   San Francisco Guzheng Music Society
• 1:45 PM   Storytime and Author Event with Oliver Chin: The Year of the Horse
• 2:15 PM   Storytime with Illustrator Minnie Phan: The Yellow Ao Dai - Minnie will be signing books with Eastwind Books from 1:30-2PM
• 2:30 PM   Storytime with Author Charlotte Cheng: Bobo Celebrates Chinese New Year
• 2:45 PM   Cal Taiko
• 3:00 PM   Cal VSA Lion Dancers

Activities 12:00-3:00PM:

• Face painting with The Painter's Space
• Make a horse shadow puppet with the Office of Mayor Adena Ishii

Vendor Fair 12:00 - 3:30PM including:

Alice Yang | Apus Literature | Charlotte Cheng | Eastwind Books | Eugenia Yoh | Faith Cao | Goyangii | Oliver Chin | Peachisekai | Ronin Decals | Slumptown Supply Co | Thien Pham | Unbound Bookstore

About our Presenters: 

Cal Raijin Taiko: In the Spring of 2005, a small-but-committed group of students pooled together their resources and formed UC Berkeley's first taiko group. Since then, Cal Raijin Taiko has gone on to become Berkeley's premier Japanese drumming performance ensemble. With a repertoire consisting entirely of original compositions, Cal Raijin Taiko performs to spread the knowledge, love, and passion of taiko to both the campus and the surrounding communities.

Cal VSA Lion Dance, founded in 2012 through the Vietnamese Student Association's Culture Show, is UC Berkeley’s one and only student-run lion dance team. Earnestly serving the local bay area for the past 11 years, we've developed a tight-knit team of students and alumni connected by culture, passion, and comradery.

Charlotte Cheng has written and illustrated a variety of books including Night Market Rescue, A Name For Sister, Roar-Choo!, BoBo Celebrates Chinese New Year, and I Miss You Most. Represented by Red Fox Literary, Charlotte’s spoken at diverse events and taught interactive workshops around the world. With over 20 years of EdTech experience, Charlotte has also developed curriculum for companies that include: CodeCombat, Disney, KQED, and Wonder Workshop. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she enjoys playing board games and the ukulele while sampling local boba beverages. Learn more about Charlotte’s work at: www.charlotte.art

Fei Tian Dancers is the one & only Chinese dance team at UC Berkeley. Established in 2003 as a Registered Student Organization, FTD supports dancers of all backgrounds in developing their Chinese dance skill & technique, enhancing their comprehension of traditional Chinese culture, & in spreading greater awareness of Chinese classical & ethnic cultures to the bigger community. FTD incorporates classical, ethnic, & modern Chinese dances into its repertoire through creating original choreography & learning traditional works, performing on campus & throughout the Bay Area.

Leung's White Crane: Founded in 1971 by the Leung brothers,  Kuen Leung, Kwan Leung, and Allen Leung, our organization is committed to coaching and carrying forward the traditions of traditional Chinese Kung Fu and Lion Dance. Since 1992 our team has traveled throughout the world to compete in various lion dance competitions and  has developed a strong reputation in the competitive sport of lion dancing. For the last 15 years we have represented the USA at the International World Championships. 

Minnie Phan is an award winning Vietnamese-American illustrator and writer based in Oakland, CA. Her past clients include the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Chronicle Books, and the San Francisco Public Library, with which she illustrated a citywide reading campaign in 2022. Working in a broad range of media, her accomplishments include collaborating with Pulitzer Prize winning author Viet Thanh Nguyen, painting a 250 square foot mural for Google, and most recently, illustrating the Vietnamese American Model Curriculum for the California Department of Education. Phan has been recognized by the The New York Times, Society of Illustrators, and Eisner Awards. She is the illustrator of the picture books The Yellow Áo Dài and Simone.

Born in Stockton, CA to refugee parents, Phan believes art can transform lives and be a vehicle for social impact. When she isn’t in her studio, Phan contributes to KALW Public Media, whose mission is to ignite conversations, uplift new voices, challenge prevailing narratives, and empower communities to envision a better world.

San Francisco Gu-Zheng Music Society was formed in 1982 to promote and share the rich Chinese heritage through traditional, classical, folk, and contemporary music. Its goals are:

• to introduce the music of guzheng (an ancient Chinese stringed instrument that dates back 2500 years) to the San Francisco Bay Area;
• to promote a greater understanding and appreciation of traditional Chinese music and culture; and
• to provide cultural exchange and performance opportunities for guzheng enthusiasts of all skill levels.

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