{"id":61641,"date":"2025-11-20T06:45:22","date_gmt":"2025-11-20T06:45:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/61641\/"},"modified":"2025-11-20T06:45:22","modified_gmt":"2025-11-20T06:45:22","slug":"asian-culture-traditions-ripple-through-the-aquariums-autumn-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/61641\/","title":{"rendered":"Asian culture, traditions ripple through the aquarium\u2019s Autumn Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pouring rain soaked the outside of the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach last weekend. But inside, dancers, musicians and community members were dry as a bone as they celebrated Asian culture.<\/p>\n

Despite the weekend\u2019s intense showers, the aquarium hosted its 24th annual Autumn Festival<\/a>, which drew a diverse audience for two days of Asian cultural performances, art exploration and community connection.<\/p>\n

The festival, taking place on Nov. 15 and 16, brought representatives from China, Japan, Korea and the Philippines.<\/p>\n

While the rain interrupted some outdoor activities, many aquarium visitors stayed for indoor events, enjoying the cultural exchange as the sounds of Taiko drums, singing, laughter and cheers filled the aquarium\u2019s first floor and theater.<\/p>\n

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Ryujin Taiko, a high-energy, interactive taiko drumming ensemble, delivered a thunderous performance for guests at the Aquarium of the Pacific\u2019s Honda Blue Cavern on Nov. 15. Yoichi Terada | Long Beach Current<\/p>\n

Inside the Honda Pacific Visions Theater, visitors enjoyed Filipino traditional dance, Japanese Taiko drumming, a Northern Chinese Lion Dance and a martial arts demonstration\u2014just on the first day.<\/p>\n

Beyond performances, the aquarium lobby was transformed into an interactive classroom.<\/p>\n

The festival featured exhibitions and demonstrations from individual organizations, including Asian history book lessons from East West Discovery Press<\/a>,\u00a0origami lessons from\u00a0Peninsula Paper Folders<\/a> and a Sumi-e Japanese ink painting showcase from a Long Beach Sumi-e group.<\/p>\n

Visitors also crafted Kimekomi<\/a> dolls and browsed through bilingual Chinese books and baby toys from Bitty Bao<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Bitty Bao, a bilingual children\u2019s books and toy company, exhibited Chinese books and toys at the Aquarium of the Pacific on Nov. 15. Anthony Pacis (left) and Kelly Wang hold up bilingual children\u2019s books meant to bridge cultures and strengthen family bonds. Yoichi Terada | Long Beach Current<\/p>\n

As artists demonstrated and shared stories about their culture, adults and children alike learned through close observation.<\/p>\n

Carol Mori, a representative from Peninsula Paper Folders, has attended the Autumn Festival for the past five years.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s great exposure,\u201d Mori said. \u201cArt is making a comeback, and these events encourage people to participate individually or as a group. Origami especially helps teach children hand-eye coordination, which is very important.\u201d<\/p>\n

David Durr from Long Beach Sumi-e Group has a deep passion for the Japanese cultural art form, which involves writing with ink.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like the art form\u2019s contrast of dark and light; it seems simple, but it\u2019s really beautiful,\u201d Durr said. \u201cSharing this with the public is important because many people have never seen this type of art; it\u2019s rare these days. If arts like this aren\u2019t practiced and shared, they can be lost, which would be a shame.\u201d<\/p>\n

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David Durr, with Long Beach Sumi-e Group, invited guests to participate in the Japanese traditional ink practice inside the aquarium on Nov. 15. Yoichi Terada | Long Beach Current<\/p>\n

Icy Smith, an author with East West Discovery Press, said events like these offer a valuable learning opportunity.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople come for cultural performances and discovery,\u201d Smith said. \u201cMany visitors are delighted to see bilingual and culturally representative books, which are hard to find in regular bookstores. Kids respond positively and sometimes even want to try creating something themselves or learn more about the history featured in the books.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite a smaller crowd, guests from Long Beach and beyond stayed throughout the event, which served as an educational and entertaining space to experience Asian heritage.<\/p>\n

\u201cTypically, attendance is high, but today\u2019s numbers are lower than usual due to the rain,\u201d event organizer Chelsea Quezada said.<\/p>\n

It was several visitors\u2019 first time at the Autumn Festival, including Aaron Wong from Glendale.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m enjoying the various shows so far, and the event is very entertaining,\u201d Wong said. \u201cI enjoy seeing younger dancers; it\u2019s different from what I usually watch, but it\u2019s fun to see the energy from the young ones.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was also Tobie Flores\u2019s first visit, who came with his coworker and family.<\/p>\n

\u201cDiversity and cultural diversity are great,\u201d Flores said. \u201cI\u2019m a faith-based man and believe in loving my neighbor, no matter who they are.\u201d<\/p>\n

The performances gave visitors a front-row view of various Asian cultural traditions throughout the community, providing an entertaining and educational experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love it\u2014seeing everybody come together and have a good time, maybe learning something new about the local community, or being exposed to cool music or interesting dance,\u201d Quezada said. \u201cIt\u2019s best to see them all smiling, and gatherings like this make people happy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Editor\u2019s Note: Updated photo caption credit to the correct photographer on Nov. 19 at 9:46 p.m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pouring rain soaked the outside of the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach last weekend. But inside,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61642,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[131,133,132],"class_list":["post-61641","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61641","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=61641"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61641\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61642"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}