Chinese New Year - What Your Mother Never Told You

Join us for a discussion with Davd Lei about the traditions, rituals, and customs we thought we knew.
About this Event

On January 29th, 2025, we will celebrate 4723 on the Chinese calendar and some of us will follow centuries old traditions, rituals, and customs, much of which we do not know why, some are misinterpreted, and some are outright wrong. Come and listen to what your mother never told you about Chinese New Year.

Speaker Bio:

David Lei began his career as a social worker in San Francisco’s Chinatown in the late 1960s, where he worked with at-risk youth. In 1981, he transitioned into the business world, focusing on exporting consumer products to Mexico. He sold his business in 2003 and retired. David is deeply committed to community building, preserving and interpreting Chinese American history, youth education, and the arts. In recent years he has given talks mostly on Chinese American art/history/culture at various venues including the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, the Chinese Historical Society of America, 1882 Foundation in DC, UC Berkeley class of 2019 commencement ceremony at Memorial Stadium, the Commonwealth Club, Center for Chinese Studies at UC Berkeley, Calgary Chinese Culture Center and many Chinese American museums and historical societies in North America. David has been involved with the Chinese New Year Parade in San Francisco since 1965 and was the parade director and is still involved as its cultural advisor.