Lunar New Year 2023: Austin Great Wall Chinese School welcomes Year of the Rabbit

Austin Great Wall Chinese School welcomes Year of the Rabbit

Austin Great Wall Chinese School held a festival to ring in the Year of the Rabbit, with students showcasing a variety of performances to celebrate the Lunar New Year.

AUSTIN, Texas - Austin Great Wall Chinese School had a festival to celebrate Lunar New Year.

Students did a variety of performances to celebrate the Year of the Rabbit. The rabbit is the fourth out of a dozen animals in the zodiac, which repeats every 12 years. So, if you were born in 1939, 1951 1963, 1975, 1987, 1999 and so on, then your zodiac sign is the rabbit.

"The holiday here definitely is not comparable to the scale of the holiday flavor in China," parent Jing Zhou said. "Here it's a small community, we still get a chance to kind of celebrate and get together, feel like a small family here that share the same culture, share the same background and language."

The non-profit school has been doing a celebration every year since it started in 1994.

One teacher, Li Hua Wang, said in Mandarin, "We hope more people come to our New Year celebration."

She says everyone from the staff to students to parents makes the school a great place to be.

"The students are also very impressive, they've won a lot of awards," she said. "We hope to make this school even better."

With everything from Chinese yo-yo to martial arts to singing and dancing, the hope is events like this help pass Chinese culture on to the next generation.

"The kids in the U.S., we really want them to keep this culture and carry on this traditional event," parent Kai Yan said.

"Kids can learn more from each other and can get educated by how their country overseas really celebrates this type of holiday," Zhou said.

To learn more about Austin Great Wall Chinese School, click here.