Chinese New Year celebration attracts varied crowd

By: Laura Katzer

Posted: 2/11/08

The beginning of the Year Of the Rat was marked with music, dance, crafts and food. It was a packed family celebration on Friday evening, Feb. 1 during the Chinese New Year at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.

The crowd at the Lily Zhang Li Taylor Dance Program consisted of mostly parents and kids. Little girls flitted across the stage as bunnies, butterflies and fan dancers. Older dancers performed traditional Chinese dance steps.

There was a huge presence from the adoption community in Kansas City.

Shannon Mullican, a 2006 UMKC Alum in Social Work, talked about why the Chinese New Year is important to her.

"We try to celebrate every year and the reason is my daughter Libby," Mullican said. "We keep her culture alive."

Mullican adopted Libby six years ago from China and was changed by the experience.

Mullican was so inspired by the adoption, she decided to go back to school at UMKC so she could eventually help others through the adoption process.

Libby enjoyed the craft activities.

"I made bookmarks and a mask," Libby said.

At the Museum Café in the Bloch Building, Richard Ng (co-founder and owner of Bo Ling's Restaurant) deftly created delicate noodles from a sticky lump of dough within a matter of minutes.

People clamored around him, watching as he rapidly stretched and folded the dough. Children stood as close to noodles as possible, then attempted noodle-making with the leftover dough. After showing the art of noodle-making in back-to-back demonstrations, Ng was visibly tired but still smiling.

"I'm exhausted just getting the noodle to behave," he said.

A little fatigue did not stop him though, as he prepared to repeat the noodle-making process again for the awe-struck crowd.

Shannon Mullican described the Chinese New Year experience best.

"We give a little and take a little culture back home," she said.

lkatzer@unews.com