Lunar New Year Arts Resources

February 12, 2021

Lunar New Year 2021 is February 12 and this is a Year of the Ox.

According to the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, “People born in the Year of the Ox are strong, reliable, fair and conscientious, inspiring confidence in others. They are also calm, patient, methodical and can be trusted. Although they say little they can be very opinionated. They believe strongly in themselves, but are also stubborn and hate to fail or be challenged. Although they do not lose their temper easily their anger can become explosive and impulsive. They are serious, quiet and not naturally sociable, which can make them dull. Ox people have a great deal of common sense.”

Ox Years: 1901, 1913, 1925, 1937, 1949, 1961, 1973, 1985, 1997, 2009, 2021

Your Guide to the Lunar New Year from Shen Yun Performing Arts

Featured Resources from the Perpich Library:
Celebrating Chinese New Year!

1. Chinese New Year by Lisa J. Amstutz, author
Out with the old and in with the new! It’s time to celebrate Chinese New Year! Clean the house. Have a feast with relatives. Watch fireworks and dragon dances. Make paper lanterns. Chinese New Year, or Spring Festival, is a celebration of new beginnings.

2. Max Celebrates Chinese New Year by Adria Fay Klein, author | Mernie Elizabeth Gallagher-Cole, illustrator
Max helps his friend Lily and her family celebrate the Chinese New Year. Flowers, oranges, and special candy are all part of the fun!

3. The Animals of Chinese New Year by Jen Sookfong Lee, author | Kileasa Che Wan Wong, illustrator
Drawing on the myth of the Chinese zodiac, The Animals of Chinese New Year follows twelve animals as they speed across a river, competing to represent the imminent new year in a race held by the Jade Emperor, the most powerful Chinese god. Each animal competes in its own unique way. The ox works hard, the tiger is brave, the god smiles kindly, but who will win? Bright photographs of babies demonstrating the same traits as the animals in the text, complemented by traditional Chinese graphic elements, accompany Sookfong Lee’s lively text.

4. Music in China: Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture by Frederick Lau, author
Music in China offers a unique exploration of the rich, dynamic, and multifaceted Chinese musical landscape. In contrast with previous scholarship – which focused almost exclusively on the role of music in elite culture – this volume takes a balanced look at a variety of traditional and modern genres, including those performed among local and regional folk musicians, in academia, in the media, and on concert stages both inside and outside of China. Using the interrelated themes of identity, modernization, and ideology as a narrative framework, Lau discusses the musical features of the selected genres, the processes through which they came into existence, and related socio-political issues.

All books are available at the Perpich Library.