By Cheryl Clark
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

January 25, 2004

JOHN GIBBINS / Union-Tribune Chris Wilson and Rachel Louie help their eight-person team snake a dragon through downtown San Diego on Saturday during events to celebrate the Chinese and Vietnamese Lunar New Year, ushering in the Year of the Monkey.

It's the year of a happy monkey in the Asian calendar, and yesterday around San Diego there were plenty of playful primates to help celebrate the new year.

At the Chinese and Vietnamese Lunar New Year events downtown and in City Heights, the monkey was everywhere: on toys and T-shirts, in paintings and photographs, on candy and cards, jackets and jewelry, and in the antics of a monkey-costumed street mime.

And at the Korean-American Association New Year's gathering in Kearny Mesa, the spirit of the happy monkey was evident as nearly 200 friends sat down for a lavish catered meal, complete with colorful sweet bean cakes.

"Whoever is born this year should be creative, with talent and artistic ability," said Sea-Jung Lee, chairman of the association's board, who was dressed in a traditional lavender and blue silk dress suit.

Yet, regardless of which of the 12 animals of the Asian zodiac it is this year, many of the customs of the New Year are preserved in similar ways by these Asian cultures.

"We celebrate for three days, visit relatives and friends and have a new beginning for everything," said Nghiep Le, president of the Vietnamese Federation that organized yesterday's day-long festival at the City Heights Village Performance Annex.

In the weeks beforehand, one tries hard to "clean out the house, get new clothes, to start out new, and if there are any debts that you have, well, you have to get that straightened out before," he said. There also is a sense of forgiving for errors or misdeeds of the past.

Technically, that should all have been done by last Thursday, the official start of the Year of the Monkey, Le said.

This new year's celebration is especially significant for the federation because the San Diego City Council's resolution now allows the federation to raise the former South Vietnamese flag, a yellow banner with three red horizontal stripes, as a symbol of the community.

"A lot of people died" under this flag fighting the Communists, he said, "so we want to make sure we preserve it as a symbol for the Vietnamese community of San Diego."

"The new year means a lot to me," said Phuong Nguyen, 16, of Poway, who waved colorful noisemakers at a booth for her sister's Asian goods store, Alpha Video on El Cajon Boulevard. "It's an important time to give thanks for your parents for taking care of us. But the best is when you wake up and smell the sticky rice."

Another custom shared among the cultures is the giving of the red envelope to the younger generation or, in the Korean tradition, a white one, said Gi Young Kim, who helped organize the Korean-American Association festivities along with her husband, the association president, Ray Nam Kim.

The envelope contains money for good luck. "It used to contain candy, but candy doesn't go that far anymore," Lee said with a laugh.

Among all three cultures, it appears the Year of the Monkey is thought to be among the better years.

"The monkey is a good sign; they're creative and playful and basically happy," said Nancy Liu, who helped serve butterfly cookies – fried egg roll shell with powdered sugar – at the Chinese Women's Association booth downtown at the Chinese Center's New Year Food & Cultural Faire.

The center had closed off several blocks around Third Avenue and J Street for dozens of craft vendors, Chinese food booths and a large stage for Chinese acrobatics, which attracted thousands of tourists as well as area residents.

Beneath a children's craft tent, Jim O'Hara from La Costa and and May Chan of Del Mar were helping their seven youngsters create lanterns and draw pictures – including monkeys – on construction paper. All wore Chinese silk costumes, the boys in red pant suits and the girls in pink "chipau."

Andy Lowe, artistic director of the Asian American Repertory Theatre, donned face makeup and a red, yellow and blue costume resembling a monkey to lead a lantern parade, and he amused the crowd with his monkeylike antics.

Retired schoolteacher Marilyn Kuckuck of La Mesa wore a vest quilted with designs of most of the animals of the New Year calendar, and a variety of jade necklaces as she bought four monkey T-shirts for friends.

She talked about the many trips she has taken to China, and how her love for Chinese culture has extended not just to the cuisine, whose dishes she regularly prepares, but to the Buddhist philosophy.

"It's a wonderful way of living," she said.

Bing and Sue Zhu of Carlsbad, who each came from Asia two decades ago but met in this country, brought their children, Sue and Alex, along. Although they have lived here for many years, they didn't know about the San Diego celebrations until a few days ago.

"We were thinking of going to Los Angeles," where Chinese New Year celebrations are larger, Bing said. "But we decided to come here instead."