Take Two translates the day’s headlines for Southern California, making sense of the news and cultural events that affect our lives. Produced by Southern California Public Radio and broadcast from October 2012 – June 2021. Hosted by A Martinez.
It's the Lunar New Year, and here in Southern California, there are lots ways to celebrate. If you want to go to your local parade and see the fireworks, you're pretty well covered.
But if you're a young Asian American and you don't have immediate connections with any family members, it can be difficult to celebrate the traditions that make the holiday famous in China.
Many children of Chinese immigrants came to the United States at a very young age, and they say their traditions for Lunar New Year are still evolving.
Take Two's A Martinez spoke with two young Asian-Americans -- Joz Wang, CEO of the culture site 8Asians.com and Tom Xia, a filmmaker based in Arcadia, to find out how their traditions are changing.
On Chinese New Year becoming a bit more mainstream in pop culture
Wang: I think it's a great start. I grew up not seeing the Chinese New year celebrated anywhere except maybe on the Chinese news station. Certainly I wouldn't imagine seeing it on sports and I wouldn't imagine seeing it on network TV. So certainly I'm very excited about it. I'm a new mom so I think about that for my child. About how much exposure he's going to have for something that we don't really celebrate in this country.
On what aspects of Chinese New Year would be more fun to bring to United States
Xia: I think we should bring back the fireworks aspect of it. Bring back the funner things about Chinese New Year, just to get people excited. And let's infuse capitalism into Chinese New Year! As a kid you get money from your parents (for the holiday). And I think that I need money now more than when I was a kid so that would be a huge plus for anyone to celebrate Chinese New Year.
To hear the conversation, click the blue player above