Lunar New Year Celebrations In Full Swing In Philadelphia's Chinatown
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The Lunar New Year is in full swing. It's the year of the tiger. This is a chance to celebrate as a community and raise awareness.
Little kids will tell you their favorite part of this holiday is getting little red envelopes full of money. It says "Gong Xi Fa Cai," which means "I wish you enlarge your wealth," which is a common way of saying "Happy New Year" and also signaling hopes that the upcoming year of the tiger will be better than the past one.
Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are celebrating the Lunar New Year with family, friends, and food.
Monday night in Chinatown, people used firecrackers and dragon dancers in an effort to ward off evil spirits and usher in good luck and prosperity.
"Lunar New Year is a huge celebration," Dim Sum House Managing Partner Jackson Fu said.
Fu is the managing partner at Dim Sum House on Chestnut Street in Philadelphia.
"We're ready to go. It's been a rocky last couple of years," Fu said.
That's because Fu's restaurant closed three times: once because of a kitchen fire, once because looters vandalized the business during a protest, and once because the city mandated restaurants to close, hurting revenue.
PHOTOS: Lunar New Year's Celebration In Chinatown
"Our quarter-quarter average between 2019 and 2020, we were down across the board at least 60%," Fu said.
The pandemic has fueled anti-Asian hate crimes across the country.
In November, a group of students shouting ethnic slurs viciously stomped on and punched a Chinese teenager who intervened in a fight near a SEPTA station, resulting in serious injuries.
"Four hundred people showed up across the street here in the city to say we need an end to violence," Philadelphia Councilmember David Oh said.
This weekend, an Asian justice rally was held outside City Hall to raise awareness about the problem.
But in Philadelphia, police say racially-motivated attacks against Asians are down. There were 19 Asian victims in 2020 and seven in 2021.
As the community reigns in the year of the tiger, Fu hopes the numbers continue in the right direction.
"We're looking forward to a new year, which is bringing in prosperity and health and longevity," Fu said.
On Saturday, there's going to be a Lunar New Year celebration at Rail Park from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.
The dragon dance is scheduled for 2:30 pm.
