CELEBRATE YEAR OF THE OX AT FAIRGROUNDS A Chinese New Year festival will take place at the N.C. State Fairgrounds in Raleigh on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. The event will feature the lion dance, the dragon dance and other cultural performances on stage all day.

Ushering in the Year Of The Ox in JB - CHINESE all over the world will welcome the Year of the Ox and bid farewell to Year of the Rat next week. Like in other major festivals in Johor Baru, shopping is an intrinsic part of the Lunar New Year. Shopping complexes are cashing in by setting up indoor bazaars and Johor Baru City Square in Jalan Wong Ah Fook in the central business district is one of them. Shopping complexes are cashing in by setting up indoor bazaars and Johor Baru "City Square" in "Jalan Wong Ah Fook" in the central business district is one of them. The centre has lined up several events and activities to usher in the Year of the Ox. Jan 24, Chinese traditional dances, a lion dance, Chinese sun drum and dragon dance performances will take to the centre stage at the atrium. On the third day of the New Year, the award-winning "Kun Seng Keng Lion and Dragon Dance Association’s" group will mesmerise shoppers with their antics. Founded in 1988, the troupe was crowned champion at the 8th Genting World Lion Dance Championship 2008 and won the International Lion Dance Competition in Selangor in January last year. It also won the International Lion Dance Competition in Thailand in 2007 and has performed in Australia, Brunei, Canada, Europe, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan and Taiwan.

Chinese Chamber of Commerce adds another four new lions

In preparation for the Chinese New Year celebration that will be on January 26, the Chinese Chamber of Commerce BSB added another four new lions to its already big collection of eight. An eye-dotting ceremony that is believed to bless the new lions was carried out recently at an indoor basketball court in Batu Bersurat. Present to officiate the ceremony were the chamber's executive members. The lions come in gold, white, red and grey colours. According to Yeo Kwan Beng, Leader of the Lion Dance Troupe, there are currently 49 members in the group.

He added that they have been in training for five months in preparation for the competition. Last year, the chamber's troupe come in 14th place out of 28 teams in the World Lion Dance Competition 2008 held at Genting, Malaysia. The four new lions will be used in this year's All-Borneo Lion Dance Competition to be held sometime between March and May.

Lion.Hearts Ntv7 ushers in the Lunar New Year with Lion.Hearts, a 30-episode Mandarin serial. The romantic comedy boasts fast-paced action in the form of traditional Chinese lion dance.

“This is the first time the lion dance element is incorporated into a Malaysian production. Since it plays a prominent role in our culture and heritage, we thought it would be timely to screen this show during the Lunar New Year,” said the station’s general manager Airin Zainul. The story revolves around orphan girl Yintong who enrols in a martial arts school and becomes part of a lion dance troupe.As an only child, Yintong was doted upon and had a blissful childhood. Unfortunately, an accident tears her family apart. She is sent to an orphanage where she is teased because of her bucktoothed appearance. Her extraordinary strength, which results in her unintentionally hurting those around her, leads to her being further ostracised.

Just when Yintong’s confidence sinks to its lowest, she befriends the handsome Li Wei, who is there for her when she gets bullied. The two pledge their love but their happiness does not last as Yintong gets adopted and has to leave the orphanage. Forced to part, the childhood sweethearts promise to meet 20 years later under a big tree.

When it’s time for them to reunite, Yintong waits under the tree but Li Wei fails to turn up. Due to family problems, Li Wei has lost his direction in life, but Yintong is determined to guide him back to the right path. She even takes up lion dancing to provide him further encouragement.

Chua Peixuan plays the bucktoothed and tomboyish protagonist Yintong. “Looking into the mirror after the makeover I didn’t see myself, but a total stranger.”

The pretty lass laughed as she recalled having the custom-made dentures fitted by a dentist. “When I first wore them, I could not even talk and had problems making myself understood. So, I practised talking while wearing them two hours a day for a week until others could make out what I was saying,” said Chua.

Berg Lee plays Li Wei, who operates a dingy martial arts school with his father Wen Tian Xiang (played by silver-haired Hong Kong veteran Ko Hung).

William San provides comic relief as Li Ah Beng, Li Wei’s lion dance partner who loves to sing.

Filming began last July so Chua, Lee and San had a week of intensive training at Lien Sheng Wushu Centre in Pudu, Kuala Lumpur. The strict trainer was said to have put them through the same rigorous workouts that regular trainees undergo. They had to practise until they got every step right.

“Lifting Lee together with the rest of the equipment is quite a weighty task,” said San. Being the lion’s tail, he had to let Lee stand on his thighs.

“As a whole, the lion head together with its fabric body weighs some 20kg,” offered Lee. As the lion’s head, he has to operate the eyes, ears and mouth as well.

“I couldn’t even lift the head on the very first day. Then, I realised I also didn’t know how to hop onto someone’s thighs. The most challenging, however, was filming on top of the poles as my feet just would not budge,” chuckled Chua, who had to overcome her fear of heights while filming on eight-foot poles.

“We did some actual running on the poles but had proper wire support.” Both the guys commented how dangerous it was, as a crew member had fallen from the poles and hit his head.

“Apart from the lion dance, the rest of the filming was quite fun,” said Lee, who intends to take a break from filming to study music.

“We were practically laughing throughout the three months of filming,” added San.

Melvin Sia portrays musician Lin Zhi Qiang who also likes to play basketball apart from the guitar, piano and keyboards.

“I’ve liked music since young but didn’t get to learn earlier as my parents deemed it unsuitable for a boy so I could only watch my sisters while they learnt,” said Sia, who eventually took music lessons and learnt how to play the piano and violin before he started acting.

Tracy Lee plays Yintong’s materialistic cousin Lin Min. She soon gets entangled in a love triangle when she falls for the good-natured musician while trying to snag a wealthy suitor.

“When the rich man proposes, my character realises she doesn’t feel any joy even as she contemplates accepting the diamond ring,” said the actress about her character. She got to sing quite a number of songs as her character stages mini-concerts. The rest of the cast include Malaysian actors Leslie Chai, Janelle Chin, Phua Chee Kin, Zhang Wei and Monday Kang.

Lion.Hearts airs on Ntv7 from Mondays to Thursdays at 10pm starting today.

Lion dance troupe use booklets to market their culture and business

SINGAPORE: With the Lunar New Year just weeks away, lion dance groups will be getting ready to grace the spotlight.

These days lion dance groups are getting more savvy in their marketing. To let people know more about the lion dance culture, a Singapore group specialising in Hong Kong—style lion dance, produced 2,000 booklets to market its services to companies.

So far, they have received five to ten per cent more bookings, compared to the last Lunar New Year.

While dancing to the tech tune, they have also reduced their fees in response to the economic climate. For some performances, the fees are about 20 per cent cheaper. They are hoping that with these measures and good luck, the lion will continue to dance its way out of tough times this year. The lion dance troupe are also becoming more tech savvy. Besides having their own website, they are also on the social networking site, Facebook.

Culture to the fore as Kuala Lumpur International Airport gears up for Chinese New Year – 14/01/09

Ox-citing time for shoppers at Sunway Carnival Mall

SUNWAY Carnival Mall, in ushering the Year of the Ox, came alive with the thundering sounds of Chinese drums and a dragon dance performance recently in Penang. Twelve drummers performed at its concourse to entertain the shoppers while the God of Prosperity mingled with them to spread ‘Choy Fatt’ (good luck) around.