Chinatown Parade

February 23, 2010 by Adam.

 Sunday the 21st was the big New Year parade in Chinatown. Not a huge turnout in terms of audience but it did feel really low stress compared to past years. It was good to see some old members of the team show up and put in a lot of effort on the head. Police presence was good in that each team had a brightly colored officer that seemed alert, but at the same time there were no squad cars or horses trying to form barricades. In other words, the police seemed like they were part of us rather than an occupying force, which many in Chinatown are still sensitive about.
The audience also seemed more festive and there seemed to be less trouble makers. Last year we had a small run in with a couple teenagers who looked like they were on drugs if they were not selling them. Neither of them were Chinese by the way.  This year I didn’t even see anyone sketchy let alone have to deal with them. In fact a few old students who caught up with us asked if they needed help to hold the audience back and I told them it just to just relax and enjoy themselves. We came close to several teams and even did “wui see”or meeting of the lion heads with a couple too. On such meeting was actually shown in the Metro.

There just was less tension between everyone in general it seemed and I saw one audience member with a baby lion head of their own. I hope to see more of that in the future.

There were also student film crews assigned to each lion team. And the Census even had a station where they put out a chiang and a red envelope for the head. Everything seemed to be in harmony and easy going.

A good start to a new year.

-Adam

 adam.cheung@bostonchinatowngateway.com

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