The Ann Arbor Chinese Center of Michigan’s annual Chinese New Year’s Celebration will be held Saturday, Feb. 5 at Clague Middle School, 2616 Nixon Road Ann Arbor, MI 48105.

Ann Arbor Chinese Center of Michigan students aged three on up (and some parents too) will be performing at 2 p.m. in the auditorium — cute little kids singing and dancing, Chinese guzheng (harp) and erhu (fiddle), lion dancers, Chinese dance, martial arts, high school student-made films and amazing Chinese yo-yo. Special guests include the Ann Arbor Chinese Traditional Music Ensemble and Kevin Liu, pipa master.

All performances and moderation by high school students are conducted completely in Mandarin Chinese as this event is the culmination of months of study and preparation by Chinese school students.

There will also be children’s games and activities from 2-4 p.m. in the gymnasium, and a Chinese dinner will be available for purchase at 6 p.m. in the cafeteria. Dinner tickets are $16 for adults (age 12 and above) and $12 for children under 12.

Chinese New Year’s Day is Feb. 3 this year. Also known as the Spring Festival, it signifies the beginning of spring and is celebrated by ethnic Chinese in many countries around the world. It is also celebrated by ethnic Taiwanese, Koreans (Sol), Vietnamese (Tet), Tibetans (Losar) and others; and after being celebrated in America for over 150 years, it has become woven into the fabric of American culture. Every year is represented by one of 12 animal zodiac signs, and this will be the Year of the Rabbit.

The Ann Arbor Chinese Center of Michigan is a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization whose mission is to provide an opportunity for any interested persons to learn about Chinese culture and language regardless of one’s race or cultural background and to promote cultural diversity. Chinese classes are held once a week on Friday nights and are open to the public. For more information check out www.aaccom.org.

Frances Kai-Hwa Wang is a second-generation Chinese American from California who now divides her time between Ann Arbor and the Big Island of Hawaii. She is an editor of IMDiversity.com Asian American Village, lead multicultural contributor for AnnArbor.com and a contributor for New America Media's Ethnoblog. She is on the Advisory Board of American Citizens for Justice. She team-teaches "Asian Pacific American History and the Law" at University of Michigan and University of Michigan Dearborn. She is a popular speaker on Asian Pacific American and multicultural issues. Check out her website at franceskaihwawang.com, her blog at franceskaihwawang.blogspot.com, and she can be reached at fkwang888@gmail.com.