Lunar New Year 2023: Austin Public Library rings in Year of the Rabbit

To kick off Lunar New Year, Austin Public Library's Terrazas Branch hosted an exciting performance of color, music, and motion by The Love of China School of Dance.

"We're a traditional Chinese dance group, and today we are performing 12 different dances, and we have kids ages 5 to all the way to senior year in high school," says Bailey Zhang, with the Love of China School of Dance.

To learn about the Lunar New Year, kids and adults made lanterns, red envelopes, and dragons. 

"It's very nice to share our culture to other people and just share the cheer around and allow this to teach people more about our Chinese culture," says Zhang.

Austin resident Greg Wallinger says this was a great way to teach his daughter about their Chinese heritage.

"My mom is a first generation, she came from China, Taiwan and through her and her mom I got to experience the Chinese traditions," says Wallinger.

For many families, quality time is a tradition during Lunar New Year and watching traditional Chinese dance.

"They had us go watch dragon dances when we were little I remember watching the dragon dance and seeing at the very end the dragon pick up the fruit and punt it across the room," says Wallinger.