2016 Chinese New Year’s countdown in Times Square

NEW YORK, NY – To celebrate the arrival of the Chinese New Year, a Flash Mob featuring a hundred performers in monkey costumes plan to make an appearance at New York’s Times Square.

NEW YORK, NY – To celebrate the arrival of the Chinese New Year, a Flash Mob featuring a hundred performers in monkey costumes plan to make an appearance at New York’s Times Square.

At 1:30PM on Feb. 6, 2016, when New Yorkers gather in the famed square to celebrate the arrival of the Chinese New Year, the “Monkey King,” the main character in the Chinese classical novel Journey to the West, will appear with his “children” as part of a flash mob staging a performance that has borrowed heavily from classical Peking Opera, a form of traditional Chinese theater that has been both enjoyed and revered by Chinese audiences for more than two centuries.

The event is an effort to let people from all over the world experience the beauty of Chinese culture, and, in a move to convey the New Year’s blessings, the actors will interact with pedestrians and tourists and ask those willing to join the performance.

The event, hosted by Beijing International Cultural Exchange Center and Beauty Media and sponsored by ICN TV Network and Beijing Opera and Arts College, is of vital importance to the cultural communication between China and the United States. With 2016 designated as China-U.S. Tourism Year, and the Chinese Lunar New Year declared as a school holiday in New York City for the first time, the Chinese New Year Countdown has become an opportunity to present Chinese culture to the world.

Highlights of the event:

โ€ข A new concept: introducing Chinese Zodiac culture while combining classical Peking Opera with a modern Flash Mob, it’s a new interpretation of the legendary Monkey King story.

โ€ข A new channel for spreading the message: showcasing literary and artistic features of Chinese culture in tandem with expressing the essence of Chinese spirit at the world-famous Crossroads of the World – Times Square – while offering New Year’s greetings to people all over the world.

โ€ข A diverse, multicultural audience: not only Chinese, but members of diverse ethnic backgrounds, will be participating.

The event is strongly supported by the Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China in New York and the Government of the City of New York. We extend a warm invitation to representatives from the Consulate General of China in New York, New York City government officials, Congressman from the State of New York, international students in New York, members of the media and all New Yorkers as well as tourists visiting this great city. Together we will provide a Chinese visual feast in Times Square!

About the author

Avatar of Linda Hohnholz

Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

Share to...