{"id":182714,"date":"2026-02-18T09:16:16","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T09:16:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/182714\/"},"modified":"2026-02-18T09:16:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T09:16:16","slug":"hundreds-brave-the-rain-to-celebrate-lunar-new-year-in-san-franciscos-chinatown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/182714\/","title":{"rendered":"Hundreds brave the rain to celebrate Lunar New Year in San Francisco\u2019s Chinatown"},"content":{"rendered":"

Despite persistent showers, hundreds assembled in San Francisco\u2019s Chinatown Tuesday to mark the Lunar New Year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to the Chinese calendar, the 4724th Lunar New Year, which started on Tuesday, is a \u201cYear of the Fire Horse.\u201d It is a rare zodiac year that occurs once every 60 years, according to a statement the San Francisco Chinese Chamber of Commerce.<\/p>\n

Tuesday\u2019s celebrations at Portsmouth Square Park included traditional performances by local groups, including a Chinese lion dance by Leung\u2019s White Crane Dragon and Lion Dance Association and a Qipao walk. Qipao is a traditional Chinese outfit worn by women.\u00a0<\/p>\n

District 1 Supervisor Connie Chan addressed the assembly, wishing everyone a happy new year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the Christian faith, there is faith, hope, and love, but it says that love is the most important key element of our community,\u201d she said. \u201cIt is because of your love for our community that we get to be here to celebrate on Lunar New Year\u2019s Day.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Supervisor Connie Chan hands out a red envelope during a Lunar New Year celebration on Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026, in San Francisco, Calif. Celebrations included a traditional lion dance, a Qipao walk, and the distribution of auspicious red envelopes. (Tanay Gokhale\/Bay City News)<\/p>\n

Chan also helped distribute red envelopes containing $5 each to the hundreds who had lined up around the block. According to Chinese tradition, these red envelopes of money symbolize good luck and are exchanged on auspicious days like the Lunar New Year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The celebrations in the city will continue over the next few days, culminating in the Chinese New Year Parade on March 7 and a community street fair on March 7 and 8.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nLeft: Crowds gather at Portsmouth Square Park in Chinatown to celebrate Lunar New Year. Right: Lion dancer poses for photo during a Lunar New Year celebration at Portsmouth Square Park on Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026, in San Francisco, Calif. Celebrations included a traditional lion dance, a Qipao walk, and the distribution of auspicious red envelopes. (Tanay Gokhale\/Bay City News)<\/p>\n

San Francisco Sheriff Paul Miyamoto urged the community to celebrate safely, stressing that law enforcement would be available to support them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully, there will be wealth, prosperity, and happiness for everyone in this new year!\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Despite persistent showers, hundreds assembled in San Francisco\u2019s Chinatown Tuesday to mark the Lunar New Year.\u00a0 According to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":182715,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[8403,13005,78427,8670,19123,584,61032,101,103,102,104,106,105,86424],"class_list":{"0":"post-182714","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-francisco","8":"tag-celebration","9":"tag-chinatown","10":"tag-chinese-new-year","11":"tag-connie-chan","12":"tag-cultural-festival","13":"tag-events","14":"tag-lunar-new-year","15":"tag-san-francisco","16":"tag-san-francisco-headlines","17":"tag-san-francisco-news","18":"tag-sf","19":"tag-sf-headlines","20":"tag-sf-news","21":"tag-year-of-the-fire-horse"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=182714"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182714\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/182715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=182714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=182714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=182714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}