{"id":293264,"date":"2019-02-06T06:00:23","date_gmt":"2019-02-05T20:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=293264"},"modified":"2019-02-06T06:00:23","modified_gmt":"2019-02-05T20:00:23","slug":"lions-raid-businesses-in-celebration-of-lunar-new-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/lions-raid-businesses-in-celebration-of-lunar-new-year\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Lions\u2019 raid businesses in celebration of Lunar New Year"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_293265\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-293265\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Lions-pix.jpg\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-293265\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Canton Restaurant guests enjoy the lion dance performance during lunch last Tuesday.\u00a0 (Erwin Encinares)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The Chinese Association of the CNMI performed traditional lion dances in several businesses throughout Saipan yesterday in celebration of the Lunar New Year.<\/p>\n<p>Lion dances are customary during celebration of the Lunar New Year and signifies the richness of the Chinese culture.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe share that culture with other countries like [Saipan], we share the culture to the local people,\u201d said Chinese Association of the CNMI\u2019s Rose Chan.<\/p>\n<p>Chan said the lion dance goes hand in hand with fireworks and percussive instruments\u2014traditionally symbolic to drive away evil spirits and bring luck to a business establishment.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c\u2026We expel evil spirits and wild animals with the lion dance. They chase away evil so when the drum beats, it scares the evil spirits. When wild animals hear the firecrackers, they stay away,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen there are no more evil spirits and wild animals, the good luck enters and keeps coming.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The lion dance also serves as a fundraiser for the Chinese Education Center in Chinatown. The education center teaches Cantonese to those of Chinese descent and others interested. Chan is currently the school\u2019s principal.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[The students] go to regular English classes in the morning and in the evening they go to the Chinese Education Center to learn their culture and their language,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>She noted that their target is to raise about $10,000 annually, and the association had been conducting lion dances since 1987, back when their president was Tan Siu Lin, father of TanHoldings president and chief executive officer Jerry Tan.<\/p>\n<p>Businesses visited Tuesday included the TSL Plaza, JP Center, Century Hotel, Transamerica, Saipan Computer Services, LT Travel, IT&amp;E, Saipan Apparel, POI Aviation, Shirley\u2019s Coffee Shop and Restaurant, Hyatt Regency Saipan, Pacific Gift Shop, Canton Restaurant, Nice Health, Majesty Restaurant, Aqua Resort Club, Kanoa Resort, iShop Kanoa, Century Tours, Club C, Pacific Islands Club, Joeten-Kiyu Public Library, CTSI, Let\u2019s Go Tours, Dollar Days, Micro Beach Hotel, Grandvrio Resort, Fiesta Resort and Spa Saipan, Sea Touch, iShop Fiesta, Saipan Adventures, I Love Saipan, Tasty Burger, Marianas Visitors Authority, Arc, Kensington Hotel, New Double Restaurant, DFS T Galleria, and Imperial Pacific Resort.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Chinese Association of the CNMI performed traditional lion dances in several businesses throughout Saipan&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":293265,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[2164],"class_list":["post-293264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","tag-lunar-new-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=293264"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293264\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/293265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=293264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=293264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=293264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}