Courtesy of Ryan Feng

Junior Ryan Feng meets with Lieutenant Governor Mike Kehoe. Feng managed the head of the red and yellow lion when they performed. “Even with all the performances, fireworks, parades and shows, the best part of the Lunar New Year is family. Being able to just come together and eat good food, like dumplings or even hot pot,” Feng said.

The tanggu, a Chinese drum, beats in rhythm with the red and gold dancing lion while the eager crowd parades along excitedly. The onlookers smile with warmth underneath their masks, celebrating the arrival of spring, new beginnings and a year filled with good luck and fortune. At the end of the performance, the huge lion head lifts to reveal junior Ryan Feng.

As a member of the Chinese community in St. Louis, junior Ryan Feng takes part in Lunar New Year celebrations and performances. Feng is the captain of a 12-person lion dancing team at the St. Louis Chinese Language School. 

“I manage the head of the lion, being the captain, while my other teammates manage the tail and the body of the lion. It can be difficult to coordinate everybody to be on the same page and doing the same thing because when you’re performing, everything has to be synchronized; that’s how it looks good,” Feng says. “While the costumes are pretty colorful and fun, they are really heavy, making them burdensome to carry, especially because you are on the inside and jumping, kicking, rolling. But seeing people’s reactions, seeing the little kids smiling and enjoying our performances, makes all the hard work worth it.”

Feng’s team performs at various venues throughout the state nearing the Lunar New Year, their main event being on Chinese Cultural Days at the Botanical Garden. They also perform at the governor’s mansion in Jefferson City, and on Feb. 5, the team will perform at a retirement home, Friendship Village at Sunset Hills. Feng first joined the team when he was a freshman in high school.

“Once I joined the Chinese school, I saw there was a lion dancing team. Immediately I wanted to be a part of it because I wanted to connect with my roots. From then on, the upperclassmen just trained me,” Feng said. “ I’ve met a lot of people and been to a lot of cultural events that really opened my eyes as to what my Chinese culture entailed, but other than that, it’s just been a lot of fun. I love spending my time doing it. And I’ve moved up through the ranks, I’m a captain now, so it’s enjoyable just being with my Asian friends and performing.”

Last year, because of COVID-19, Feng’s lion dancing group was only able to perform once at the Botanical Garden. Now, masks are only encouraged for the audience and for the performers when they are not dancing. 

“One of the biggest indirect things COVID-19 has done is that we weren’t able to get new team members. Now that those old team members have graduated, it’s kind of hard coordinating everything with new members,” Feng said.

Though COVID-19 has changed aspects of the celebrations, the performances and celebrations still have symbolic values embedded in them. For example, each new Lunar year in the Chinese calendar is associated with one of the 12 zodiac animals. This year is the year of the tiger, symbolizing courage, ambition and taking risks. It is deemed to be the greatest earthly power. 

“One of the things we’re doing in our performances is that we wave a ball around at the lions and we show the ball to the other lion. Then they both jump back and forth to try to catch the ball,” Feng said. “Basically, that is the symbolism for waking up the spirits of prosperity. When we catch the ball with the lion’s head, that is another symbolic representation of wealth and health prosperity.”

Asian culture is widespread in our nation, with China being the second leading country of origin for immigrants. However, in Feng’s personal experience, many Americans misunderstand aspects of his culture. 

“Growing up, in a 100 percent Asian household, a culture different from everyone else’s at school, I felt some sort of disparity. Going to an American public school, you don’t really learn a lot about Chinese traditional culture or even Asian holidays,” Feng said. “If we really want to raise awareness about Chinese culture, we should probably be talking about, or at least addressing it in a school environment. It would definitely make me feel more included and part of the community.”

Lunar New Year Zodiac by Audrey Ghosh