From Chinatown to Midtown: Chinese New Year fanfare gets rolling in 'Big Apple'

[Photo/Xinhua]

Therefore, many Chinese of the New York area had to travel to the New Jersey town of Belleville, home to the first Chinese immigrants in the east coast, to celebrate the Lunar New Year.

Thanks to the efforts of the ever growing Chinese communities, the Spring Festival celebrations on the east coast of the U.S., which took shape from a small scale festivity in the Jersey town of Belleville, are no long confined to Chinatown, but extended to the main streets of the city, making ever bigger splashes every year.

In New York City, 2016 is the first year when the Chinese New Year was added to the city's public school calendar, allowing 1.1 million school students to have one day off celebrating the traditional Chinese holiday.

"I think that by giving recognition to this, it actually shows that we are giving respect to the culture diversity of this country, and also, giving the recognition to the great contributions the Chinese-American community made to this society," said Consul General Ambassador Zhang Qiyue.

Meanwhile, at the annual Lunar New Year concert of New York Philharmonic on Tuesday, UN chief Ban Ki-moon took the stage and wished the audience Happy New Year in Chinese.

"It sets a precedent in the history of New York Philharmonic. No guest was invited before to deliver a speech in their concert," said Zhou Wei, founder of the New York-based Weiber consulting company and one of the organizers of the event.

Ban's five-minute speech, not on the official schedule, indicated the growing importance of the Chinese New Year in the world, she added.