TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — As the president of the Tucson Chinese Association, Tina Liao sees Lunar New Year, also known as Chinese New Year to Chinese people, as a time of celebration and getting together with family.
She remembers fond memories of sharing stories and eating traditional Chinese food like dumplings with her family.
“It’s a time for family to get together, to have all kinds of good food, to be happy, to share joy,” Liao said.
Lunar New year is a 15 day celebration filled with traditions like the lion dance, giving lucky money envelopes and wearing red.
“The red color, we call it the lucky color but also, it’s the color of the fire. In the tradition, we use the red color to scare the devils away,” Liao said.
This past weekend the Tucson Chinese Cultural Center hosted a Lunar New Year gala for the first time since the pandemic started.
It was hosted at the center that has rich pieces of history like a piece of the railroad track Chinese people worked on, a room dedicated to Chinese veterans, and pictures of Chinese-owned grocery stores in Tucson.
“Since 1914, we already have over 100 Chinese grocery stores in Tucson,” Liao said.
For Liao, the center is a symbol of Chinese unity, especially after the shooting tragedy in Monterey Park, California on Saturday.
“We were really shocked because that impact a lot of people, and we worry some too,” she said.
As for violence against the Asian community, she said she heard of some Asians being targeted during the pandemic.
“We felt the unfriendly attitude towards us but in a violent case we haven’t heard anything in Tucson,” she said.
Working with the Chinese community, she said the Pima County Sheriff’s Department and Tucson Police addressed violence in the Asian community.
“Tucson generally to speak, people are still pretty nice here,” she said.
While it’s a time of tragedy, she said the cultural center will be continuing to serve the entire community.
“We hope and call on people to be kind to each other….We will not just serve the Chinese community but the Tucson community at large,” Liao said.
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Andrew Christiansen is a reporter for KGUN 9. Before joining the team, Andrew reported in Corpus Christi, Texas for KRIS6 News, Action 10 News and guest reported in Spanish for Telemundo Corpus Christi. Share your story ideas with Andrew by emailing andrew.christiansen@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook, or Twitter.
