By Brian Lockhart
It was a scene that could only be found in downtown Flushing on the day marking the arrival of the Lunar New Year.
Two dragons – one made of 6,000 green and yellow balloons, the other a Chinese dancing dragon held aloft by dozens of handlers – converged at the intersection of Main Street and 37th Avenue.
A few blocks south, a marching band drummed and danced its way up Main Street to join the pair of giant serpents at the head of the gradually forming parade.
And in the center of it all, Borough President Claire Shulman and other elected officials took a few moments to pose for group photos before they began marching.
On Saturday morning, Flushing's Chinese, Taiwanese and Korean communities, despite some behind-the-scenes political wrangling, united for a daylong Lunar New Year's celebration, ushering in 4698, the year of the dragon, the luckiest animal symbol.
For Asian cultures, the Lunar New Year falls on the first new moon after the sun has reached the constellation of Aquarius, usually between late January and early February. It is a time of celebration and renewal.
Saturday's parade began near Main Street and 37th Avenue around 11 a.m. Hundreds of residents from Queens and the rest of the city braved the 24 degree temperatures to view a variety of business-sponsored floats, horse-drawn carriages, bands, school students, scout troops and other organizations wind their way through downtown Flushing.
Tim Hassall, a Manhattan resident, attended the parade in honor of his Chinese co-workers.
“I thought it would be better here than in Chinatown,” Hassall said. “It's a bit more authentic, less touristy.”
Jeannette Lit of Corona brought her 9-year-old son Sean to the parade. Lit is Hispanic, but her husband is Chinese, “so I wanted Sean to get a feel of their culture, too” she said.
“I think it's a very good occasion,” said Ray Hwang as he and his family awaited the parade outside of their gift business on Main Street.
Hwang, a Chinese-American who also lived in Africa, said the multi-ethnic turnout demonstrated how cultures 'A' and 'B' become culture 'C' in America.
“All of us are immigrants. We come earlier, we come later, whatever,” he said. “This is American Lunar New Year.”
Although on the surface the celebration appeared to unite the various Asian-American communities from China, Taiwan and Korea, political realities clouded some of the festivities.
“We did have our difficulties,” said Adrienne Joyce, chairman of Community Board 7 and a parade organizer. “People tried to make it a political event and it wasn't.”
Joyce said that during the 1990s, the Lunar New Year parade was organized by the Chinese-American community.
Last year CB 7 helped to orchestrate the first parade that included Korean-Americans and organizers tried to make the event as non-political as possible. For example, the People's Republic of China flag was not flown.
Again, CB 7 helped the Chinese and Korean-American planning committees prepare for this year's event and the local Taiwanese-American community was added to the mix.
Joyce said unfortunately problems arose when the three communities invited their respective U.S. ambassadors to march. Joyce said he caused a small uproar when he gave the Taiwanese ambassador his VIP sash and treated him as an equal alongside the others because Taiwan is not recognized by China as a sovereign nation.
“Flushing is paving the way for future relations” by getting the groups to celebrate together, Joyce said.
Other controversial parade marchers were several practitioners of Falun Gong. First introduced in China in 1992 by founder Li Hongzhi, it is a form of Qigong exercises and meditations which has been perceived as a threat by the government of communist China and was declared illegal in 1999. Hundreds of practitioners have been arrested in China and Hongzhi was reportedly hiding in Flushing. On Saturday, the marchers pushed a musical float which represented the Zhuan Falun, the book Hongzhi wrote that is the core of the practice.
Wei Jing Sheng, a Chinese dissident who was imprisoned for 20 years for speaking out against the communist government, also made a surprise appearance in the parade and left as soon as it had concluded.
“There's always going to be some differences getting people together, but the bottom line is the parade worked out great,” said parade organizer and Flushing civic leader John Liu.
“Everyone was marching in the same parade and that's the important ingredient,” said state Sen. Toby Stavisky (D-Flushing).
The event even attracted a reporter from the Washington D.C.-based Radio Free Asia, who noted that “Flushing is becoming a battle for mainland China and Taiwan to struggle for.”
As the parade dispersed at the intersection of Union Street and Northern Boulevard, marchers and spectators crossed to Flushing High School for an Asian-American bazaar.
The hallways of the school were packed as people headed for the auditorium to watch the musical and dance performances, the cafeteria to lunch on traditional Chinese and Korean dishes and a side room to observe children learning Korean games.
As he surveyed the crowd in the cafeteria, Yong Hwa Ha, who chaired the celebration's Korean-American committee, said organizers would be seeking an even larger site to hold the bazaar next year because of its continued success.
“Everyone's really like homesick,” said Ha, a statement that both explained the size of the crowds and how political differences can be played down when it comes to celebrating the Lunar New Year.
