(calming music) (gentle music) - I lived in a small village in North China where the Chinese New Year tradition is a two-week-long celebration.

It all kicked off with butchering the hogs and cooking the meats days in advance.

(lively music) - The Year of the Horse is a fantastic year because horse in Chinese tradition or Chinese culture, the horse symbolizes freedom, strength, energy, courage, perseverance.

So there's a lot of good things about the Year of Horse.

(bright music) - Today is a Chinese New Year Eve, so we'll celebrate Chinese New Year.

- We celebrate Chinese New Year for 15 days, and they are different things that we do on these 15 days.

For this year, the lunar calendar, the Year of Horse start on February the 17th.

There is a must-do, must-have, a thing in the agenda on the New Year's Eve, and that is the family reunion, New Year's Eve dinner.

And we call it (speaking Mandarin).

(bright music) I really like this event because we have a lot of family, a lot of friends here, and it's like a family reunion.

It's a bigger family (chuckles) reunion.

So we're going to eat a lot of food and we're gonna play games.

- Oh!

(laughs) - Oh!

- Traditional game like mahjong, the tile game.

We also play other game where, like, pick up money.

(people cheering and clapping) (people laughing and clapping) And also, kids will get the red pocket.

That's an important thing to all the kids.

Yes.

(speaking Mandarin) Red pocket give out to kids means good luck and happiness.

That's why the money in the red pocket.

The red represent happiness and good luck.

- [Dalin] So this is the Chinese New Year Eve.

(people chattering) - On the eve, we put up the couplets and make dumplings and stay up late watching the New Year gala on the TV, waiting for the midnight to set up the firecrackers to welcome the new year officially.

(group speaking in Mandarin) (lively music) - If you have a chance to go to our gala, and when we show you the costume.

(lively music) The way we celebrate bring people the happiness.

And we want to share that to other people.

We think that they are enjoying too.

(laughs) We do this gala to celebrate the Chinese New Year.

(warm music) The Year of Horse is also, is also something that you can be, probably can be a little bit wild (laughs) in the horse spirit but in a good way.

(laughs) Free and unafraid, and that's the theme song of our gala.

The closing song of this gala is a Chinese song, but there is a catching line say, "Be free and unafraid."

♪ Be free and unafraid The gala centers on three key elements.

We are celebrating the Year of Horse.

We're going to show you how a three-generation Chinese American family to celebrate the Chinese New Year in the United States, right?

- I've always wondered, why do Chinese people call Chinatown (speaking Mandarin)?

- And we are going to show you a lot of element in the Chinese culture.

But we don't forget to incorporate modern elements in the show.

So in short, we're going to create a lively and festive show to the audience.

We can't wait to deliver that to the audience.

(chuckles) (lively music) I was not the one that who started this tradition, but I would assume it was that because celebrating Chinese New Year, like have a gala to watch and participate, was in our tradition.

(drums thumping) (lively music) - We're from China.

It's really important to keep the culture going, especially, you know, in a Western country.

- Because the tradition is beautiful.

And it gives people, bring people their happiness.

(lively music) - It is the time of the year to drop the stress, relax, and look forward for a bright new year.

(both singing in Mandarin)