We are already on Day 5 of the Year of the Dragon, but it is not too late to celebrate. Lunar New Year is a two-week celebration, from the first new moon of the lunar calendar to the first full moon. If you are lucky enough to live in the Bay Area, there are lots of fun events coming up in the next few weeks.

This weekend, Solano Avenue holds its annual Lunar New Year parade and celebration on Sunday January 29. Performances will be held at the Albany Twin Theater from 10-12 and then a parade will march up the avenue.

The same day, from 12-4:30, our family’s favorite Lunar New year celebration will be held at the Oakland Museum. This event includes a wide variety of performances, crafts, and food from all over Asia (a special highlight is the mochi pounding).

Saturday, February 11 is a big day for the Lunar New Year in San Francisco. A unique and very San Francisco way to ring in the new year, Chinese New Year Treasure Hunt, will be held on Justin Herman Plaza starting at 4:30. From their description:

The Chinese New Year Treasure Hunt is a unique urban sleuthing adventure played on the streets of Chinatown, North Beach, and Telegraph Hill on the night of the annual Chinese New Year Parade. Treasure hunting teams have four hours to solve sixteen clues leading them to obscure landmarks, forgotten architectural delights and vestiges of San Francisco’s colorful past. Players can come with a team already organized, or can join like-minded hunters at the event; it’s a great way to make new friends.

The same day, the San Francisco Symphony has a special Chinese New Year performance at 4pm. And the annual Chinese New Year parade in Chinatown - the largest such event outside Asia – is from 6-8 pm.

To see how people are celebrating the new year in Beijing (firecrackers, firecrackers, and more firecrackers) see this beautiful video produced by the New York Times:

And if you have questions about the basics of Chinese New Year, check out this primer from the New York Times.

To honor Chinese New Year, MomsRising has hosted a blog carnival from Asian and Asian-American bloggers with their thoughts about family as the Year of the Dragon begins.

恭喜发财！

So I was pleasantly surprised when I heard the new Little Dragon Tales, Chinese Songs for Children CD, performed by Shanghai Restoration Project featuring Yip’s Canada Children’s Choir. Shanghai Restoration Project is a music group led by Dave Liang which introduces “Eastern instruments and rhythms to the Western sounds of hip-hop and electronica,” according to their own description. They produced a beautiful album, Afterquake, with bluegrass singer Abigail Washburn which remixes sounds, including children’s voices, from the area of Sichuan devastated by the 2008 earthquake.

Their new album of children’s songs is unique and surprisingly enticing. It contains all the same songs I now know by heart and which my three-year-old sings ad nauseum around the house. But backed by real music with the simple, sweet children’s voices they sound completely different and totally endearing. The final song on the album, a solo by Zhang Le of 小白船 (Little White Boat) is especially soothing and beautiful. And as soon as I started playing the CD, my kids both stopped what they were doing and came in the room to listen, singing along.

See two videos below of the recording of Little Dragon Tales:

The CD can be purchased from Amazon or downloaded from iTunes. The liner notes helpfully include full lyrics of all songs with pinyin and English translation. What better way to celebrate the Year of the Dragon with your little ones?

And hear Shanghai Restoration Project’s beautiful interpretation of the folk song Sala, sung by children in Sichuan (this one even made it onto my workout playlist):

[Full disclosure: Cheng & Tsui sent me a free review copy of the CD but the opinions expressed herein are 100% mine.]

I had a craving for a sweet taste of childhood the other day; so I went shopping for a can of grass jelly. I was putting said treat into my cart and looking for my Ranch 99 VIP card when a woman with three kids in tow ran into my cart.

At that moment, both of us said, “Ai-ya.” The children giggled, she apologized, and I quickly replied, “M’sai. No apology needed.” Although it was a minor exchange, I later realized that Ai-ya is more than just two characters; it is part of the spirit of being Chinese … in a moment of surprise I could’ve said just about anything – my reaction was to say Ai-ya. I was surprised that I would instinctively use my mother’s tongue because I’ve always known that I don’t speak Cantonese well. No matter how far removed I’ve become as an American, there is something at my core that is Chinese.

I decided to conduct informal research about Ai-ya. First, I went to a national bookstore chain to review its Chinese language materials. I thumbed through all the Chinese language materials, but couldn’t find any vocabulary drill including Ai-ya. Seeing that the publishers of tourist books were not going to be helpful, I decided to observe its use in the community. I clipped my cell phone to my belt, grabbed a couple of bakery pink boxes and sat around San Francisco ‘s Portsmouth Square drinking 7-Up and eating dim sum . Lo and behold, I heard Ai-ya used in a variety of ways.

Based on my personal experience and this observation, I’ve developed a personal understanding of Ai-ya. Aiya is 24-carat Chinese gold. Ai-ya is more than just two characters; it is part of the spirit of being Chinese and may even go back to antiquity. It is used wherever the Chinese have been in the diaspora of the last sesquicentennial.

How you say Ai-ya can say volumes about your state of mind. For example, when the problem is minor, I can say “Ai-ya” in a short/curt manner. However, when I am extremely stressed, I can draw it out to nearly five seconds.

As you read the following ways Ai-ya can be used, the mental image to solicit is to picture any of the mothers from Amy Tan’s “The Joy Luck Club”. For those who have met anyone in my family, you can picture one of my relatives instead:

Surprise: “Ai-ya! A surprise party for me?”

Joy: “Ai-ya! You got 5 out of 6 in Lotto!”

Distaste: “You expect me to drink that herbal medicine concoction of yours? Ai-ya!”

Doubt: “Do I have to wear that lemon yellow/lime green sweater my mother made? I wonder if she would notice if I accidentally’ donated it to
Goodwill? Ai-ya.”

Awe: “Your son got accepted into Harvard Law School !?! Ai-ya!”

Irritation: “Clean your room. Ai-ya! Why you live like a pig?”

Large astonishment: “Ai-ya! She switch majors from Business to Art History!”

Disapproval: “Report Card-5 A, 1 B? Always a B in Math. Ai-ya.” (Actual quote from my mother when I was a sophomore in high school.)

Shock: “What? Ketchup on Yang Chow Fried Rice … Ai-ya!”

Outrage: “Never clean your rice cooker with that steel scouring pad! Ai-ya!”

Verge of internal combustion: “I can’t deal with the family asking when and if I’m getting married! Ai-yaaa!”

Ai-ya is an all-purpose phrase that comes from deep in the soul. Ai-ya is both simple and complex: on one hand it is a couple of Chinese characters, on the other hand it can be a whole speech describing the state you are in. Ai-ya says, “I’m afraid”, “I’m in pain”, “I don’t believe it.” It is an exclamation of exuberance, a shout of hurt, a cry of fear, and the reflex of being startled, and the embrace of joy.

It is unfortunate that English has no equivalent to Ai-ya. It saddens me that American English doesn’t afford me a fun phrase to emote. “Shucks”, “Darn,” “Shit,” and the plethora of other swear words cannot convey what Ai-ya can. So, I’m going to propose that we start an initiative for American English should grab on Ai-ya or the Yiddish “Oy” for our use.

So the next time you go to a teahouse for dim sum or decide to go shopping at an Asian market, listen to the lively banter as friends and families meet. It’s a wonderfully vibrant, alive community out there. Who knows, you just might get caught up the lyrical rhythm of the people.

(This essay has been passed around through email; the original author is unknown.)

Someone on YouTube even took it upon themselves to create a video explaining the term (it’s in Cantonese, but Ai-ya is equally powerful in Mandarin and, I believe, a number of other Chinese dialects.)

- Rye Studio: A series of animated stories, with the option to switch between English, Japanese and Mandarin. By far, the best, most engaging and professional Chinese app I have seen. They are cheap, several are free, and my kids love them. Mulan and the Monkey King are favorites and can be downloaded here.

- Apple Tree Books: Illustrated books including classics like the Hare and the Tortoise, the Boy Who Cried Wolf, etc. They have an option to read it yourself or have it read to you, which is nice for beginning readers. Not quite as sophisticated as Rye Studio but good nonetheless.

- FeedMe Chinese: A favorite with my three-year-old, the program asks simple questions about colors, shapes, numbers, etc and the child must drag the correct answer into the mouth of a silly purple monster. If the answer is correct, the monster gives a happy whoop. If it’s wrong, he spits it out and looks dejected and sad. Very cute.

- Just as I was finishing this post, I received an email about a new Chinese reading app, Catch Me if You Can, which is a fun character recognition game, where students have to “catch” the correct characters to recreate a sentence. My six-year-old tried it and was hooked right away. The only downside (for us) is that the versions using simplified characters are very limited. (I emailed the developer and she said they are planning more versions with simplified characters soon.)

- 5Qchannel: A great storytelling website has just started creating iPhone apps. I haven’t tried them yet but the content on their site is quite good.

- Doodle Chinese teaches basic vocabulary in three categories: Animals, Numbers and Greetings then offers quizzes with cute drawings to test your knowledge and expands to more complicated conversations. Good for a new learner.

- ABC Chinese: A simple flashcard application to teach basic vocabulary。

For my six-year-old, the best writing practice is simply the Chinese character touchpad input screen on the iPhone 4, where he can draw a character with his finger and it magically converts it into type.

Some others I have seen but not yet tried:

- Chinese children’s songs. Frankly, I don’t dare download it since I know my daughter will want to listen to nothing else. But it looks good for those whose kids are learning the standard Chinese children’s songs. And it’s free.

I don’t have an iPad so haven’t included any apps that just work on tablets. Beatrix Potter storybooks, in English and Chinese, with the original illustrations, look great but are only for iPads.

For those without smart phones, Childroad is a nice Chinese story and reading website.

What did I miss?

[photo by A God's Child on flickr]

Watch video clips here.

InCulture Parent has posted several fun craft projects for the Lunar New Year. My daughter came home from her Chinese daycare with a thumbprint plum blossom painting, and it is my favorite art project either of my children has done in four years of school. Simple and lovely and befitting the holiday. ICP also posted a recipe I put together for yuanxiao, a sweet treat for the holiday which is enjoyed all year around in our house (usually not made by hand, however).

While looking over our selection of Chinese New Year themed books, I realized that several were written by local authors here in the Bay Area. A new addition my kids got this year from friends is Year of the Rabbit, the latest in the series of zodiac-themed books by Oliver Chin. It presents a humorous and simple introduction to the animals of the zodiac, clearly aimed at children who did not grow up with the Chinese tradition.

A couple of years ago when I came across The Cable Car and the Dragon, I thought the book must have been written with my son in mind. Cable cars and dragon dances in one book! Do all five-year-olds feel so passionately about those two things? It’s a wonderful story about San Francisco, an escapee dragon, and a cable car come to life, which my son adores.

For those who are interested, Oliver Chin will be reading at several New Year events in the area. In the meantime, my son’s Chinese immersion school has the day off tomorrow, so we are going skiing (and bringing our hotpot with us).

Happy New Year! 兔年大吉！

[Image courtesy of OnTask]

Childbook also has a list of events throughout the U.S. and Canada.

Enjoy and Happy Year of the Rabbit!