Celebrating Chinese New Year 2/5/2023

Did You Know? - The azalea plant is a popular flowering shrub species in the rhododendron family. This spring-blooming flower lasts just a few weeks and there are thousands of cultivars of the species. The azalea is a very common plant in the United States. It is also a native plant throughout North America as well as Asia and Europe.

Did You Know? - Lion dance is a form of traditional dance in Chinese culture and other Asian countries in which performers mimic a lion's movements in a lion costume to bring good luck and fortune. The lion dance is usually performed during the Chinese New Year and other Chinese traditional, cultural and religious festivals. It may also be performed at important occasions such as business opening events, special celebrations or wedding ceremonies, or may be used to honor special guests by the Chinese communities.

The Chinese lion dance is normally operated by two dancers, one of whom manipulates the head while the other forms the rear end of the lion. It is distinguishable from the dragon dance which is performed by many people who hold the long sinuous body of the dragon on poles. Chinese lion dance fundamental movements can be found in Chinese martial arts, and it is commonly performed to a vigorous drum beat.

Did You Know? - A moon bridge, also known as "sori-bashi", or as a drum bridge ("taiko-bashi" ???), is a highly arched pedestrian bridge. The moon bridge originated in China and was later introduced to Japan, where it became synonymous with Japanese landscape architecture. However, the general shape of this bridge can be seen throughout East Asian cultures.

Generally, these bridges are non-functional, serving as ornamentation.. However, they were originally designed to allow pedestrians to cross canals while allowing the passage of barges beneath. To achieve this height in normal bridge construction, significant space from the river banks must be used for the approaches of the bridge. The climbing ascent and descent of the moon bridge has the advantage of conserving this space. These approaches can be very steep on moon bridges, sometimes requiring ladder-like rungs to be affixed to the bridge.

Moon bridges can be constructed from a variety of materials and construction techniques. Some wooden moon bridges employ a "woven-arch" style: cross beams are threaded between the longitudinal members, developing inherent stiffness and shape. Though rare, this technique is displayed on the 12th century Chinese "Rainbow Bridge", the 1913 moon bridge in the Japanese garden of the Huntington Library in California.

Did You Know? - Bian Lian is an art in which the performer will wear brightly colored costumes & ornate opera-themed masks. These masks are the stars of the show, for a bian lian performer can switch between numerous masks in a fraction of a second.