Due to Covid-19 concerns and government restrictions, many lunar New Year celebrations will be virtual this year.
“It’s not going to be the same, or anything similar to the same,” said Malcolm Yeung, executive director of the San Francisco Chinatown Community Development Center.
“Virtually all the New Year celebrations we would have had have been canceled and replaced with some online programs,” Yeung said. “It’s a community trying to do what we can to uphold our traditions and culture, but knowing that it just does not compare to what we would do in a normal year or even what we would do in 2020. not.”
Susan Allen, CEO and president of the Pan Asian American Chamber of Education Foundation, says she expects most Chinese revealers to connect online with family and friends abroad.
“They’ll hold virtual events or do FaceTime,” Allen told CNN Business. “They’ll probably put a big TV screen in a room and talk and eat, play loud music, maybe for older family members who still want the traditional music and noise.”
In a normal year, Ngo would have spent the week for an abundance of tourists to flood his popular Vietnamese noodle shop, which his father opened in 1986. But this year, he spent more time selling groceries to locals than noodles to newcomers. .
He, like many Chinatown restaurateurs, was forced to turn his business model around to serve as a quasi-grocery store to prevent it from shutting down.
“We expect tomorrow to have between 60 and 80 lbs of pork chops for people to buy and take home and cook for themselves,” Ngo told CNN Business. “Right now we only have 30% of the menu.”
Ngo and his family are also going virtual for the Chinese New Year this year. Earlier this week, he spent time chatting online with his aunt in Melbourne, Australia.
“Because of the pandemic, we can not visit her,” he said. “We meet by phone, WeChat, Facebook, but we can communicate.”
“It was really well received and I think it raised everyone’s moods,” Yeung said.