FIRST SATURDAY PDX
  • For Here or To Go : A Conversation with Curtis Chin, June 7, 2025
  • Season 2024 - 2025
    • Quick Preview of Season 2024 - 2025
    • Season Schedule (2024 - 2025)
    • Lesser and Well Known Chinese Species at Hoyt Arboretum 14 September, 2024
    • OCTOBER DIM SUM/ YUM CHA BRUNCH, 12 October, 2024
    • Heroism and Survival: Women’s Daily Lives in Japanese-occupied Shanghai (1937-1945), 2 November, 2024
    • Collecting Stories: Chinese Art through the Historians' Lens​, 7 December, 2024
    • Imperialism, Architecture, and Oberlin College: A Brief History of the "Golden Temple" , 4 January, 2025
    • 2 Feb 2025: Spring Banquet - Year of the Snake 4723
    • ​Down the Cultural Crosswords: The Chinese Dialect of Xining, 1 March, 2025
    • Chinese "Paintings of Beautiful Women" and their Global Circulation in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, 5 April, 2025
    • Remembering the Dead in Late Medieval China (7th–10th c.), 10 May, 2025
    • For Here or To Go : A Conversation with Curtis Chin, June 7, 2025
  • About First Saturday PDX
  • THE FIRST 20 YEARS
  • PAST SEASONS & PROGRAMS
    • Past Seasons & Program Highlights >
      • Season 2023 - 2024 >
        • Quick Preview of Season 2023 - 2024
        • Season Schedule (2023 - 2024)
        • * DIM SUM/ YUM CHA BRUNCH!! 9 September, 2023 *
        • A Question of Hu, 7 October 2023
        • "Mother of all Technologies": Accumulating Culture Through Chinese Textiles, PART 1 - November 4, 2023
        • "Mother of all Technologies": Accumulating Culture Through Chinese Textiles PART 2 - December 2, 2023
        • Xu Bing: Beyond the Book from the Sky, 6 January, 2024
        • Spring Banquet: Year of the Dragon 4722, 17 Feb, 2024
        • Year of the Dragon 4722
        • Making Hakka Women Visible: 6 April, 2024
        • Well Known and Lesser Known Chinese Species at Hoyt Arboretum - 4 May, 2024
        • Celestial Bridges: An Introduction to Architecture Over Water and Space From China's Past, Part One, 8 June, 2024
      • Season 2022 - 2023 >
        • Quick Preview of Season 2022 - 2023
        • Season Schedule (2022 - 2023)
        • A Visit to the Soreng Gallery of Chinese Art ​at the ​Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art​, 10 September, 2022
        • ​China’s Last Imperial Frontier: Late Qing Expansion in Sichuan’s Tibetan Borderlands 15 October, 2022
        • Girls with Big Ideas: Gidget and Song of Youth 5 November, 2022
        • * DIM SUM/ YUM CHA BRUNCH!! 19 November, 2022 *
        • Following the Thread: China Along the Road of Silk 3 December, 2022
        • The Chinese Massacre in Hells Canyon 7 January 2023
        • Year of the Rabbit 4721
        • Spring Fundraiser Banquet Lunch/ Auction 18 FEB, 2023
        • "Model Letters" and the Audiences of Calligraphy in Early Modern China , 4 March, 2023
        • Women in the History of Tea in in China, 1 April, 2023
        • Tea and Wine: A New Look at the Song Dynasty Poetry of Li Qingzhao (李清照), 13 May, 2023
        • Summer Tour of the Garden of Awakening Orchids: 3 June, 2023
        • 2 Feb, 2025 - Spring Banquet: Year of the Snake 4723
      • Season 2021 - 2022 >
        • Quick Preview of Season 2021 - 2022
        • Season Schedule 2021 - 2022
        • The Oregon Chinese Diaspora Project, 2 October 2021
        • Connecting to our Natural World: The Portland Botanical Gardens, 6 November 2021
        • Lan Su Chinese Garden: ​The Vision of a Classical Chinese Garden, 4 December 2021
        • ​Re-visioning ​Chinese History, ​900-1350: ​The New Look of Song and Yuan, 8 January, 2022
        • Chinese New Year 2022/ Year of the Tiger 4720, 5 February, 2022
        • Auspicious Seals and Chops, 5 February 2022
        • The Erhu and Erhu Music, 5 March, 2022
        • Pictorial Naturalism and "Truth": Contextualizing the Eleventh-century Luohan Sculptures of Lingyan Temple in China, 2 April, 2022
        • Celebrated Stories in Sichuan Shadow Theater,7 May, 2022
        • The Daode Jing's Forgotten Forebear: The Ancestral Cult 4 June, 2022
      • Season 2020 - 2021 >
        • Quick Preview of Season 2020 - 2021
        • Season Schedule 2020 - 2021
        • Collecting Under Socialism: Philately in 1950s China, 12 September, 2020
        • Myriad Treasures: Celebrating the Reinstallation of the Soreng Gallery of Chinese Art Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, 3 October, 2020
        • The Real Mulan? Tales of a Female Rebel in 18th century China 7 November, 2020
        • Spice it Up! ​How the Chile Pepper Flavored Chinese Culture 5 December, 2020
        • A Century of Collecting Chinese Painting at Oberlin College 9 January, 2021 ​
        • Chinese New Year 2021/ Year of the Ox 4719
        • Artistic Exchange Between China and Europe in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries 6 March, 2021
        • For Here or To Go : A Conversation with Curtis Chin, June 7, 2025
        • The Scholar’s Retreat: Loss and Resilience in the Chinese Landscape and Garden 3 April 2021
        • Simmering, Whisking, Steeping: Methods for Preparing and Consuming Tea in Premodern China
        • Silk and Sericulture: Beauty Inspired by a Social Contract
      • Season 2019 - 2020 >
        • Quick Preview of Season 2019 - 2020
        • Season Schedule 2019 - 2020
        • Mawangdui: The Tomb of China’s Sleeping Beauty, 7 December 2019
        • Field Notes from Sichuan: Learning To Be a Foreigner, 5 October 2019
        • In Search of Korean Liberation in China, 2 November 2019
        • From an Architect's Perspective: 3, 5, 7, 9 Column Halls: Status and Hierarchy in a Confucius Society, 7 December 2019
        • China Under the Covers - ​A Bookbinder’s Journey to the Roots of Books 11 January, 2020
        • Lunar New Year Lunch, 1 February, 2020
        • Early Phonetic Rendering Schemes for Chinese Characters, 7 March 2020
        • The Garden of Elk Rock at Bishop's Close, 4 April 2020
      • Season 2018 - 2019 >
        • Quick Preview of Season 2018 - 2019
        • Season Schedule 2018 - 2019
        • Notable Women of Portland, 8 September 2018
        • Mooncakes: A Hallmark of Tradition of the Mid-Autumn Festival, 6 October 2018
        • Music: A Universal Language for Healing and Touching the Soul, 3 November 2018
        • China: In the Pursuit of Happiness, 1 December 2019
        • Babur's Gardens: An Illustrated Introduction, 5 January 2019
        • Chinese New Year Lunch 2 February, 2019
        • ​​Living with Penjing: Three Dimensional Poetry - Mark Vossbrink March 2, 2019
        • Discovering the Intellectual and Sensory Essences of Chinese Literati Gardens, 6 April 2019
        • Sino-Japanese Cultural Connections in the Yuan Dynasty, 4 May 2019 ​​
      • Season 2017 - 2018 >
        • Quick Preview of Season 2017 - 2018
        • Season Schedule 2017 - 2018
        • Developing Patronage: Chinese and Asian Pacific Heritage, 9 September 2017
        • Every Plant Has a Story to Tell: Bamboo, 7 October 2017
        • Wonders to Enjoy: Chinese Snuff Bottles, 4 November 2017
        • Sichuan Shadow Theater: Messages from Hell Courts, 2 December 2017
        • Legacy of the Qing Manchu Culture: The Sibe of Northwest China, 6 January 2018
        • Chinese New Year Brunch, 3 February 2018
        • Classical Tradition: Ancient Musical Instruments of China, 3 March 2018
        • Ancient Traders of the Silk Road: The Uyghur People of Xinjiang, 7 April 2018
        • "Poetic Exposition on Heaven and Earth": A Third-Century Chinese Verse on How the Cosmos Began, 28 April 2018
        • Word Play: The Art of Xu Bing, 2 June 2018
      • Season 2016 - 2017 >
        • Quick Preview of Season 2016 - 2017
        • Season Schedule 2016 - 2017
        • Contemporary Chinese Society: A View from the Films of Zhang Yimou, 6 May 2017
        • Chinese New Year Brunch, 4 February 2017
        • The Uyghurs: History of a People at the Center of Asia, Part 1, 4 March 2017
        • Creating a Tea Aesthetic ​in Tang Verse, 3 June 2017
      • Season 2015 - 2016 >
        • Season Schedule 2015 - 2016
        • Guzheng and Erhu: A Dialog Between the Strings, 2 April 2016
      • Season 2014 - 2015 >
        • Season Schedule 2014 - 2015
      • Season 2013 - 2014 >
        • Nurture and Healing:​Chinese Medicine for Summer - Dr Elise Wong, 14 June, 2014
      • Season 2012 - 2013
      • Season 2011 - 2012
      • Season 2010 - 2011
      • Season 2009 - 2010
      • Season 2008 - 2009
      • Season 2007 - 2008
      • Season 2006 - 2007
      • Season 2005 - 2006
  • Videos
  • Partners
  • Join our Email List/ Contact Us
  • Volunteer
  • Zoom!
  • Stop Asian Hate Resources
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Xīnnián Kuàilè / Sun Nin Fai Lok / Happy New Year

​Year 4721 in the Chinese Lunar Calendar (beginning on 22 January of solar year 2023) is the year of the Black  or Water  Rabbit, 水兔.  Also known as the Spring Festival, 春節 (chūenjié), this holiday is celebrated for 15 days, culminating in the Lantern Festival  on 5 February.    ​(Lunar New Year Lantern Viewings and Chinese New Year Celebrations are ongoing at Lan Su Chinese Garden - see here)
The Spring Festival (Lunar New Year/ also known as Chinese New Year outside of China)  is the most significant holiday of the year. Traditionally a time to honor deities and ancestors, it is specifically a time to prepare delicacies and auspicious dishes for feasting with family (the night before, for the annual reunion dinner) and friends during the season.  In preparation to welcome the Lunar New Year, one's home is tidied and swept clean of any ill fortune of the preceding year to make way for incoming good luck.  Red lanterns signifying wealth, fame and prosperity are hung and poetic characters and verses written on red paper are placed on windows and doors.  As the festive color of the season, red clothing is also worn.  To symbolize a fresh start for the new year, new clothes and shoes are purchased, outstanding business debts are paid off, and gifts of gold 金 (jīn) and money 錢 (qián) are given to young relatives and employees in red envelopes 紅寶 (hóngbāo). 
Each Lunar New Year brings new fortunes, and in the past Year of the Tiger (Yang energy), growth and making gains at all costs were encouraged with less focus on satisfaction and serenity.  In 2023, this Year of the Rabbit (Yin energy) is attached to the element of Water.  The colour of water is “black” and brings great prosperity.  Together with the rabbit's characteristics in this Lunar New Year 4021, we can also anticipate relaxation, fluidity, quietness, contemplation, calm and hope.  
Water Rabbits are known to be soft, thoughtful, and friendly with a ‘go with the flow’ attitude. While not the quickest decision makers or biggest risk takers, they are quiet and effective workers with excellent memory.  The soft approach of the regal rabbit encourages us to move through the world with quiet confidence, low key cunning and the knowledge that kindness is not weakness but rather benevolent strategy. 
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​We thank our generous speakers, valued volunteers, and loyal and new attendees.  First Saturday PDX wishes you all a fulfilling new year with good fortune, prosperity, good health, longevity, happiness, success, kindness, and adventure ! ​

Here is our guide to a Chinese New Year meal, with auspicious foods and their respective symbolisms: ​
(Please click here to view on our YouTube channel))

 Further information on the traditions of Chinese New Year and the forecast for the Year of the Rabbit 4021: 

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​​Our educational program series has been developed with support from PSU’s Institute for Asian Studies, the Northwest China Council and the Lan Su Chinese Garden; always free and open to the public.​  First Saturday PDX  current full season schedule and descriptions available HERE.  ​
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​© 2014 - 2025  First Saturday PDX
  • For Here or To Go : A Conversation with Curtis Chin, June 7, 2025
  • Season 2024 - 2025
    • Quick Preview of Season 2024 - 2025
    • Season Schedule (2024 - 2025)
    • Lesser and Well Known Chinese Species at Hoyt Arboretum 14 September, 2024
    • OCTOBER DIM SUM/ YUM CHA BRUNCH, 12 October, 2024
    • Heroism and Survival: Women’s Daily Lives in Japanese-occupied Shanghai (1937-1945), 2 November, 2024
    • Collecting Stories: Chinese Art through the Historians' Lens​, 7 December, 2024
    • Imperialism, Architecture, and Oberlin College: A Brief History of the "Golden Temple" , 4 January, 2025
    • 2 Feb 2025: Spring Banquet - Year of the Snake 4723
    • ​Down the Cultural Crosswords: The Chinese Dialect of Xining, 1 March, 2025
    • Chinese "Paintings of Beautiful Women" and their Global Circulation in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, 5 April, 2025
    • Remembering the Dead in Late Medieval China (7th–10th c.), 10 May, 2025
    • For Here or To Go : A Conversation with Curtis Chin, June 7, 2025
  • About First Saturday PDX
  • THE FIRST 20 YEARS
  • PAST SEASONS & PROGRAMS
    • Past Seasons & Program Highlights >
      • Season 2023 - 2024 >
        • Quick Preview of Season 2023 - 2024
        • Season Schedule (2023 - 2024)
        • * DIM SUM/ YUM CHA BRUNCH!! 9 September, 2023 *
        • A Question of Hu, 7 October 2023
        • "Mother of all Technologies": Accumulating Culture Through Chinese Textiles, PART 1 - November 4, 2023
        • "Mother of all Technologies": Accumulating Culture Through Chinese Textiles PART 2 - December 2, 2023
        • Xu Bing: Beyond the Book from the Sky, 6 January, 2024
        • Spring Banquet: Year of the Dragon 4722, 17 Feb, 2024
        • Year of the Dragon 4722
        • Making Hakka Women Visible: 6 April, 2024
        • Well Known and Lesser Known Chinese Species at Hoyt Arboretum - 4 May, 2024
        • Celestial Bridges: An Introduction to Architecture Over Water and Space From China's Past, Part One, 8 June, 2024
      • Season 2022 - 2023 >
        • Quick Preview of Season 2022 - 2023
        • Season Schedule (2022 - 2023)
        • A Visit to the Soreng Gallery of Chinese Art ​at the ​Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art​, 10 September, 2022
        • ​China’s Last Imperial Frontier: Late Qing Expansion in Sichuan’s Tibetan Borderlands 15 October, 2022
        • Girls with Big Ideas: Gidget and Song of Youth 5 November, 2022
        • * DIM SUM/ YUM CHA BRUNCH!! 19 November, 2022 *
        • Following the Thread: China Along the Road of Silk 3 December, 2022
        • The Chinese Massacre in Hells Canyon 7 January 2023
        • Year of the Rabbit 4721
        • Spring Fundraiser Banquet Lunch/ Auction 18 FEB, 2023
        • "Model Letters" and the Audiences of Calligraphy in Early Modern China , 4 March, 2023
        • Women in the History of Tea in in China, 1 April, 2023
        • Tea and Wine: A New Look at the Song Dynasty Poetry of Li Qingzhao (李清照), 13 May, 2023
        • Summer Tour of the Garden of Awakening Orchids: 3 June, 2023
        • 2 Feb, 2025 - Spring Banquet: Year of the Snake 4723
      • Season 2021 - 2022 >
        • Quick Preview of Season 2021 - 2022
        • Season Schedule 2021 - 2022
        • The Oregon Chinese Diaspora Project, 2 October 2021
        • Connecting to our Natural World: The Portland Botanical Gardens, 6 November 2021
        • Lan Su Chinese Garden: ​The Vision of a Classical Chinese Garden, 4 December 2021
        • ​Re-visioning ​Chinese History, ​900-1350: ​The New Look of Song and Yuan, 8 January, 2022
        • Chinese New Year 2022/ Year of the Tiger 4720, 5 February, 2022
        • Auspicious Seals and Chops, 5 February 2022
        • The Erhu and Erhu Music, 5 March, 2022
        • Pictorial Naturalism and "Truth": Contextualizing the Eleventh-century Luohan Sculptures of Lingyan Temple in China, 2 April, 2022
        • Celebrated Stories in Sichuan Shadow Theater,7 May, 2022
        • The Daode Jing's Forgotten Forebear: The Ancestral Cult 4 June, 2022
      • Season 2020 - 2021 >
        • Quick Preview of Season 2020 - 2021
        • Season Schedule 2020 - 2021
        • Collecting Under Socialism: Philately in 1950s China, 12 September, 2020
        • Myriad Treasures: Celebrating the Reinstallation of the Soreng Gallery of Chinese Art Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, 3 October, 2020
        • The Real Mulan? Tales of a Female Rebel in 18th century China 7 November, 2020
        • Spice it Up! ​How the Chile Pepper Flavored Chinese Culture 5 December, 2020
        • A Century of Collecting Chinese Painting at Oberlin College 9 January, 2021 ​
        • Chinese New Year 2021/ Year of the Ox 4719
        • Artistic Exchange Between China and Europe in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries 6 March, 2021
        • For Here or To Go : A Conversation with Curtis Chin, June 7, 2025
        • The Scholar’s Retreat: Loss and Resilience in the Chinese Landscape and Garden 3 April 2021
        • Simmering, Whisking, Steeping: Methods for Preparing and Consuming Tea in Premodern China
        • Silk and Sericulture: Beauty Inspired by a Social Contract
      • Season 2019 - 2020 >
        • Quick Preview of Season 2019 - 2020
        • Season Schedule 2019 - 2020
        • Mawangdui: The Tomb of China’s Sleeping Beauty, 7 December 2019
        • Field Notes from Sichuan: Learning To Be a Foreigner, 5 October 2019
        • In Search of Korean Liberation in China, 2 November 2019
        • From an Architect's Perspective: 3, 5, 7, 9 Column Halls: Status and Hierarchy in a Confucius Society, 7 December 2019
        • China Under the Covers - ​A Bookbinder’s Journey to the Roots of Books 11 January, 2020
        • Lunar New Year Lunch, 1 February, 2020
        • Early Phonetic Rendering Schemes for Chinese Characters, 7 March 2020
        • The Garden of Elk Rock at Bishop's Close, 4 April 2020
      • Season 2018 - 2019 >
        • Quick Preview of Season 2018 - 2019
        • Season Schedule 2018 - 2019
        • Notable Women of Portland, 8 September 2018
        • Mooncakes: A Hallmark of Tradition of the Mid-Autumn Festival, 6 October 2018
        • Music: A Universal Language for Healing and Touching the Soul, 3 November 2018
        • China: In the Pursuit of Happiness, 1 December 2019
        • Babur's Gardens: An Illustrated Introduction, 5 January 2019
        • Chinese New Year Lunch 2 February, 2019
        • ​​Living with Penjing: Three Dimensional Poetry - Mark Vossbrink March 2, 2019
        • Discovering the Intellectual and Sensory Essences of Chinese Literati Gardens, 6 April 2019
        • Sino-Japanese Cultural Connections in the Yuan Dynasty, 4 May 2019 ​​
      • Season 2017 - 2018 >
        • Quick Preview of Season 2017 - 2018
        • Season Schedule 2017 - 2018
        • Developing Patronage: Chinese and Asian Pacific Heritage, 9 September 2017
        • Every Plant Has a Story to Tell: Bamboo, 7 October 2017
        • Wonders to Enjoy: Chinese Snuff Bottles, 4 November 2017
        • Sichuan Shadow Theater: Messages from Hell Courts, 2 December 2017
        • Legacy of the Qing Manchu Culture: The Sibe of Northwest China, 6 January 2018
        • Chinese New Year Brunch, 3 February 2018
        • Classical Tradition: Ancient Musical Instruments of China, 3 March 2018
        • Ancient Traders of the Silk Road: The Uyghur People of Xinjiang, 7 April 2018
        • "Poetic Exposition on Heaven and Earth": A Third-Century Chinese Verse on How the Cosmos Began, 28 April 2018
        • Word Play: The Art of Xu Bing, 2 June 2018
      • Season 2016 - 2017 >
        • Quick Preview of Season 2016 - 2017
        • Season Schedule 2016 - 2017
        • Contemporary Chinese Society: A View from the Films of Zhang Yimou, 6 May 2017
        • Chinese New Year Brunch, 4 February 2017
        • The Uyghurs: History of a People at the Center of Asia, Part 1, 4 March 2017
        • Creating a Tea Aesthetic ​in Tang Verse, 3 June 2017
      • Season 2015 - 2016 >
        • Season Schedule 2015 - 2016
        • Guzheng and Erhu: A Dialog Between the Strings, 2 April 2016
      • Season 2014 - 2015 >
        • Season Schedule 2014 - 2015
      • Season 2013 - 2014 >
        • Nurture and Healing:​Chinese Medicine for Summer - Dr Elise Wong, 14 June, 2014
      • Season 2012 - 2013
      • Season 2011 - 2012
      • Season 2010 - 2011
      • Season 2009 - 2010
      • Season 2008 - 2009
      • Season 2007 - 2008
      • Season 2006 - 2007
      • Season 2005 - 2006
  • Videos
  • Partners
  • Join our Email List/ Contact Us
  • Volunteer
  • Zoom!
  • Stop Asian Hate Resources