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Event Ushers In Chinese Year Of Rat

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By B.C. MANION, The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 6, 2008

TAMPA - You can get a taste of Chinese culture and support the Tampa Chinese School during a Chinese New Year celebration Saturday featuring lion dancers and Chinese food.

The event is set for 2:30 p.m. at First International Asian Gifts & Grocery, 14420 N. Dale Mabry Highway.

This is the sixth consecutive year that store owner Elkie Hng has held the celebration, which features dancers dressed in colorful costumes and whose feet and head movements mimic lions.

About 40 dancers from the Tampa Chinese School, ranging from preschoolers through adults, will perform.

In Chinese tradition, the lion dancers drive out negative energy from the previous year and bring in good luck for the next year.

This year, the celebration marks the end of the year of the pig and ushers in the year of the rat.

The animals associated with the Chinese New Year are part of Chinese astrology, which assigns the signs of the zodiac based on the year of an individual's birth.

Those born with the sign of the rat tend to be forthright and generous and have lively, happy personalities. They also tend to love money and hate waste and idleness, according to various Internet sources.

The Chinese New Year celebration raises money for the Tampa Chinese School at the Chinese Alliance Church, 312 E. 127th Ave.

Donation boxes will be placed in the store, so people attending the event may make contributions.

Those attending also may contribute by buying plates of assorted Chinese foods, at $3 and $5 a plate. Proceeds benefit the school, which needs books and other materials, Hng said.
Hng said she holds the celebration in a quest to share her culture - with people who are familiar with it and those who are not. "Everybody is welcome," Hng said.

IF YOU GO

WHAT: Chinese New Year Celebration
WHERE: First International Asian Gifts & Grocery, 14420 N. Dale Mabry Highway (between Fletcher and Bearss avenues.)

COST: Plates of Chinese food for $3 and $5, with proceeds benefiting the Tampa Chinese School. Donations also are accepted.

INFORMATION: (813) 908-5422

Reporter B.C. Manion can be reached at (813) 865-1507 or bmanion@tampatrib.com.

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