A New Year, A New Beginning

By Christian Polidoro

Posted with the permission from The Bulletin

Jan. 23, 2007

Philadelphia - When it began in 2004, New Tang Dynasty Television's (NTDTV)?Chinese New Year Spectacular performed only seven shows in five cities worldwide. As popularity grew over the next two years, those numbers expanded to 25 shows in 17 cities, but Philadelphia was kept off the schedule.

Now, for the first time since its inception, the show rolls into Philly for a two-night stay at the Merriam Theater beginning tonight. Featuring over 200 performers, this year's theme is "Myths and Legends," which will convey life and arts during China's Tang Dynasty, considered to be the country's golden era of art and literature.

After the Chinese cultural revolution of the 1960s, much of the essence of the country's traditional values were lost. Buddhist, Taoist, and Confucianist themes were silenced by atheism and communism. "You wouldn't be able to see a show like this if you were living in China today,"says Cindy Wang, publicist for NTDTV's event. "The way the government is run, many things would be censored and propaganda would be inserted everywhere."

The New Year Spectacular, sponsored by the Greater Philadelphia Asian Culture Center, looks to revive those lost values and traditions and restore the meaning of arguably the most important holiday on the Chinese calendar. "Normally, when Westerners think of the Chinese New Year, they imagine the traditional dragon dance,"says Wang, "but Chinese culture goes well beyond that."

The show will transport audiences back to ancient China, during the days of the Tang Dynasty (618-907 A.D.) by way of high-tech sets, lavish dance numbers, large-scale projections, and soaring orchestrations. The choreography will once again be handled by Tia Zhang, whose work last year was inspired by the devastation caused to Indonesia and Bali by the tsunami of 2004. Also, the Tian Yin Orchestra will perform traditional and original pieces using instruments of ancient Chinese origin.

Despite being a celebrated Chinese holiday, the celebration is not exclusive to members of the Asian-American community. "Westerners make up a large part of our audience,"says Wang. "I'd say the audience is easily 50-50."

The event will also feature matinee performances on both days for students of all ages. Over 3,000 students from 30 area school are already expected to attend.