Red has descended on the Empire State Building again. This is the eighteenth time, right? Inside the display window, a golden horse galloping forward was replaced, with gourds and kumquats attached to the golden horse. This scene looked really festive. This happens year after year, and unconsciously it turns into a thought, just like an agreement made with an old friend.
It's actually quite strange, it's obviously our Spring Festival.
Here in New York, just after the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, Midtown Manhattan has already begun to permeate with the flavor of the New Year, not the flavor of dumplings, but the kind of, how should I put it, a tacit expectation. Bob McCue, vice chairman of Nasdaq, said this was his year. When a foreigner tells you about your birth year in a serious manner, you can't help but be stunned.
When "Only Green" Hits Lincoln Center
It was extremely cold in New York at that time, and the white breath exhaled by the people lining up in front of the David Kirk Theater could actually drown the entire block. "Only Green" was performed there for four consecutive times, and the tickets were completely sold out, making it difficult to buy tickets.
I was in the queue and heard two old ladies from the United States whispering that the stage art seemed to flow out of paintings from the Song Dynasty.
They may not understand Wang Ximeng, nor may they understand the genius and loneliness possessed by an eighteen-year-old boy. However, they entered to see the green color and the silent mountains. At the end of the show, one of them had red eyes. Art is something that sometimes does not need to be translated. It can speak on its own, with a small volume, but it can reach people's hearts directly.
Later, I saw someone posting a photo on Moments, saying that masters from Prince Gong’s Mansion Museum had arrived, bringing with them rubbings, lacquer fans and paper-cutting. Those foreign children lay there, puffing up their cheeks and blowing the word "福", making their little hands colorful, and then put them in their pockets like treasures. Such a serious look is much cuter than us adults just going through the motions during the New Year.
What exactly is going on during the Chinese New Year?
When we were children, we celebrated the New Year with new clothes, New Year's money in our arms, and the smell of sulfur that filled the firecracker crumbs. What about now? They are busy grabbing tickets, participating in the Spring Festival travel season, and the dried fruit plate placed on the coffee table untouched until the seventh day of the Lunar New Year.
But look at New York.
Regarding the Brooklyn Nets game, there were red envelopes on the seats. They were empty, but the feelings were conveyed. The words "Chinese New Year" were scrolled on the scoreboard, and the host shouted "Happy Spring Festival" at the top of his lungs. A group of fans received a small snake craft and then took a bite of spring rolls. Their expressions at that time were truly happy.
What are they happy about?
The New Year itself is not a source of joy. It's the atmosphere created by "everyone doing something special together." It is the strong visual effect given by red. It is the physical excitement caused by the dragon leaping and the tiger leaping. It is a state of forgetting about bills and reports for the time being, and following everyone's ignorant joy.
The "China Red" bouquet on the top of the Empire State Building has been flying for 25 years since 1999. With a height of 443 meters, it looks like a huge torch. Below it is the bustling Fifth Avenue and the hurried New Yorkers. When the red light came on, some people looked up and took a quick glance, and some people quickly raised their mobile phones to take a photo. Then he moved on and continued to be busy. But that light is always there.
### Year of the Snake stamps and a turbulent world
This year, the United Nations Postal Administration's set of Year of the Snake stamps can be customized. You have to replace your photo with the United Nations emblem. This is quite interesting. The final destination of globalization turns out to be "me".
Four colorful embroidered snakes are twisted together in a chaotic way, head to tail, tail to tail, looking like some kind of cycle and some kind of protection. Moratinos, the high-ranking representative of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations, said "Happy Spring Festival" in Chinese. He claimed that the snake symbolized wisdom and meant transformation.
These words sound particularly heavy in the spring of 2026.
One day, United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Fleming lamented. Her original words were, "The corridors of the United Nations Headquarters are filled with the joy and hope contained in the Spring Festival." She expressed her hope that in this turbulent world, everyone can accept the wisdom contained in the Spring Festival, which is to end conflicts and find solutions.
A foreign official, in the corridors of the United Nations, spoke of the wisdom of the Spring Festival.
### The city is full of spring scenery, and then what?
The Firecracker Cultural Festival, which has been held for 26 years, has become a regular feature of the New York public calendar along with the Chinatown Float Parade, and is even parallel to the Thanksgiving Day Parade. In Chinatown, the young men dancing dragons were topless, beads of sweat glistening in the winter sun. Smoke billows from the food temple fair, and Cantonese, Mandarin, English and Spanish are mixed together.
The former president of the China-American Association, Heimowitz, put it rightly: If we can understand each other on a deeper level through cultural ties, our hearts will be more closely connected.
What happens after you understand it?
The New York Philharmonic's New Year's Concert was held at Lincoln Center on February 11. This is already its 13th year. When the "Spring Festival Overture" plays, what are the foreign musicians thinking in their minds? Is it the staff, is it the beat, or is it a night in the far east?
In fact, it doesn't matter.
It is important to mention that at this moment, the music they played was from China. Among the audience, there are Chinese, Jewish, black and white, and other different races. Under such a scene, they all closed their eyes and listened attentively. What they received that could be heard was music, not national boundaries that represented separation.
### at last
I'm tired of writing. You must be tired of watching this too.
It has snowed again in New York in the past two days. The snow is a thin layer. There is a touch of red on the top of the Empire State Building, which should be more conspicuous in the snow.
The Spring Festival left the Chinese community and became a festival in New York and a holiday in the United Nations. This situation is naturally a good thing. However, there is always some unexplainable feeling in my heart. It was as if it was an old thing that I had always cherished, and when I took it out for others to watch, others praised it, and I felt both happy and reluctant to part with it.
But perhaps, culture should not be locked in a drawer in the first place.
It caused it to float away, to the top of the Empire State Building, to the electronic display of Nasdaq, and to the briefcases carried by diplomats at the United Nations, whether it was just a stamp, a red envelope, or a blunt "Happy Chinese New Year."
If you plant a seed, it will eventually sprout.
Even in this turbulent world, wisdom and courage are needed more than ever.
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