Monkey Business: Smart Ways to Celebrate Chinese New Year 2016 in NYC

By Troy Segal

It’s not too late to say Happy New Year—in fact, it’s just the right time: February 8th marks the beginning of the Chinese Lunar New Year (the Year of the Monkey in 2016). From art to talks to performances, we present some ways to celebrate, Sino-style, throughout the month. The extension is entirely appropriate, since the Chinese—smart people that they are—traditionally keep the new year’s party going for at least a couple of weeks.

Party Time

New York Chinese Cultural Center (NYCCC) at Brookfield Place

Around the city, several institutions are sponsoring afternoon or day-long celebrations on Saturday, Feb. 6:

· The fine, folk and performing arts mingle at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Lunar New Year fête: It offers artworks and artifacts on display, puppet shows and Chinese theatre performances, calligraphy classes and tea ceremonies, and even e-fireworks.

· A full-fledged lion dance and parade, led by his majesty the Monkey King, roars forth downtown at Brookfield Place Winter Garden.

· Asia Society and Museum rings in the New Year with an array of traditional Chinese opera, dance and martial arts demos, supplemented by customs from Korea, Tibet and other Asian lands.

And later on:

· There’s a lion dance and kung fu demonstration outside the new HQ of China Institute; afterwards, the celebration moves indoors for dumpling-making, paper-cutting and paper-lantern workshops, storytelling, and of course, traditional munchies. Saturday, Feb. 13.

· Arts and crafts and music and dance all play a part in the family festival put on by the Museum of Chinese in America, Saturday, Feb. 20.

Chinese-Themed Activities

Fantastic Art China, a massive art exhibit, displays contemporary paintings, sculptures, photographs, multimedia installations and even apps by Chinese and Chinese-American artists. On opening night, there’ll be a display of fireworks (which were invented in ancient China) over the Hudson River. Jacob K. Javits Center, Saturday, Feb. 6-Wednesday, Feb. 10.

From China’s pollution problems to North Korea’s nuclear threats, the “Far East is in Crisis,” or so claims a New York University professor and global affairs analyst. Hear his arguments in this lecture. 92nd Street Y, Sunday, Feb. 7.

As has been its wont for the last four years, the New York Philharmonic is performing a special Chinese New Year Concert. Conducted by Long Yu, the program includes both works of Western composers inspired by the East (as in Kreisler’s Tambourin Chinois) and Eastern composers (including the NYC premiere of Nu Shu: The Secret Songs of Women by Tan Dun, best known here for the soundtrack of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon). Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Tuesday, Feb. 9.

Learn more about architect Poy Gum Lee, responsible for so much of the hybrid East-meets-West look of Manhattan’s Chinatown, in this guided gallery tour of an exhibit devoted to his work. Museum of Chinese in America, Thursday, Feb. 11 & 25.

A melding of cultural influences has also been the mantra of the Shen Wei Dance Arts troupe, now celebrating its 15th year. The company commemorates with excerpts from several ballets, along with a discussion of its history. Guggenheim Museum, Sunday, Feb. 28 & Monday, Feb. 29.

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