[applause]

[applause] . >> thank you everyone. [applause] >> good evening. [off mic] dragon. that's why we have special and the dragon -- they're always great. [applause] >> [off mic] let's

give a round of applause. [applause] >> [off mic] and welcome to this year's new year celebration. i am claudine cheng from the the san francisco general hospital foundation and [off mic]. >> . >> . >> [off mic]. particular celebration because this is the first, the first of many, many of asian pacific cultural celebration in the new

year and family and friends getting together and wishing each other a happy and healthy new year with lots of good fortune and that's what we're doing here looking out at the rotundra today. this is diverse communities coming together and celebrating as san francisco family and wishing all the goodness that the year can bring, hopes, optimism, all the good things so we want to thank you for being here and i would like to say a few words in chinese. [speaking foreign language]

so i justin tsai to mention and the new year is celebrated in communities and the ask pacifics and this evening we prepared a number of performances celebrating the culture of a number of ache pacific count reese and china, indonesian and the philippines and celebrations like what we have here now doesn't happen in every city in the country or in the state of california. this has become kind of a tradition for our city and because we are very lucky to have so many mayors through the years and our city officials who took every opportunity to bring

communities together. we have very fortunate we have a city that embrace diversitys in the manner that we do and please welcome the host of this year's celebration, mayor london breed. [applause] >> thank you. let's hear it for commissioner claudine cheng. [applause] >> well first of all welcome to city hall everybody. happy lunar new year. you don't seem that enthusiastic. it's the year of the dragon, progress, prosperity, courage. so many things represent the year of the dragon and what i am so excited about here in san francisco is what this means for the future of our city . this is going to be a great year, 2024 in

our city, and it has everything to do with each and every one of you joining us here tonight to kick off lunar new year in san francisco. [applause] >> now, i wrote a new names down that i want to identify and i want to make sure they get this right, but first i want to start with my cohost tonight. you will from them in a little bit but i want to thank carmen chu, city administrator. [applause] >> sheriff paul mijamoto. public defender mano raju. and our other cohost david chiu couldn't be with us here tonight but as many of you know he's everywhere so if he's want here tonight he couldn't really be here tonight and i want to thank the

committee for all the work and the apa heritage foundation claudine cheng who does amazing work. thomas lee, al perez and grace. almost grace, almost. i want to also thank our chief of protocol marian and some of our amazing leaders, president of the chinese console baited benevolent association. thank you for being here today and our pair port commissioner representing the san francisco chinese chamber of commerce malcolm young. [applause] >> and congratulations to kevin chang who is the new chaplain for the san francisco sheriff. [applause]

>> and i know mary young is also here somewhere. now we have a number of new council generals and i want mention the countries joining us here today, korea singapore, mongoala. welcome to san francisco. we also have the consul general of japan as well as other places and can they please stand up. [applause] >> thank you to those who are joining us here today and welcome to the new council generals. we look forward to welcome and you celebrating at the lunar new year parade this saturday as well, and we have some special guests visiting us from the district

of west vancouver including the mayor, mayor mark saiger who is joining us today. welcome mayor. as well as your delegation from the meto vancouver transportation agency. can you all please stand. [applause] >> i want to acknowledge some of the elected leaders who are joining us here today starting with supervisor rafael mandelman, matt dorsey and joel engardio. [applause] >> . our assessor recorder jaking torres. our school board members please stand. our treasurer jose cisneros. [applause] >> and jenny lam are you still president or -- okay. lanie is the president of the school board. all right. i am getting

all my name exercise thingsed up but i think i took care of everything and we have some amazing department heads joining us here today and can you please stand, michael lambert from the library. greg colfax and mary and joe and thank you all for being here. if i didn't call your name raise your hand. just kidding. anyway again thank you so much for joining us and as i said we're kicking off the year of the dragon and prosperity, abundance, intelligence and honor. so many things represent san francisco as a whole and when i think how amazing it is to celebrate lunar new year i think about the resiliency of the asian community, so many people immigrated here to san francisco and made it

what it is today whether it's folks from the filipino community who immigrated to the south of market neighborhoods or japantown which is one of the best japantowns anywhere and chinatown which is one of the first and oldest anywhere in this country. we have so much incredible history with so many different communities that celebrate lunar new year and it is what makes san francisco unique. when we hosted the asian pacific economic corporation what i said during that time to so many of those visiting us from 21 economies is that san francisco is a gate way to the asian pacific. we represent diversity of cultures in so many ways and when you think about it people travel to different places all over the world to experience different cultures but when you come to san francisco you can

experience it all right here in our city whether it's different foods or different neighborhoods or different people. we all have a unique fabric that makes san francisco what it is today, and i appreciate being here celebrating on this momentous occasion, joy, excitement and happiness. after everything that we have been through the challenges of the pandemic, the challenges around anti-asian hate we're finally starting to see the representation of what the dragon means around progress with the 90% reduction in anti-asian hate crimes in san francisco and it is everything to do with all the work that we have been doing together. [applause] >> so again i want to welcome you to san francisco city hall for this great celebration and really appreciate you all for coming together because after

such a hard time, after so many challenges it is time to start rooting for san francisco. it is time to start rooting for what makes us so unique and special. it is time to start celebrating and experiencing joy and happiness and excitement. yes, san francisco has its challenges because we're a major city, but we need to start focusing on what makes us great, what makes us special, what makes us unique? and lunar new year with our diverse asian community is really an important part of what makes us special and what makes us unique. that's the celebration that we're hosting here tonight and we appreciate each and every one of you for joining us on this auspicious occasion and we hope to see you saturday at the lunar new year parade as well. thank you all so much. [applause]

>> i knew i was going to forget something so at this time i want to ask the counsel generals who are joining us today to come to the stairs so we can take a picture. right claudine? okay.

[applause] >> thank you everyone and next in the program we have another treat for you. let's welcome the gordon j. lau elementary school students. these students have been sacrificing all lunch breaks to practice for today so let's give them a big round

of applause. gordon lau. [applause] >> (music)

[applause] >> "i could dance by dua lipa watch me dance the night away. my heart but you won't see it. watch

me dance the night away. i still keep the party still running and when my heart breaks, when my world shakes i don't play. don't you know about me? i could dance, i could dance. i could dance. dance away. [applause] >> thank you students. i think the mayor was going to thank the students. [applause]

>> all right

everybody. big smiles. they're looking great. what do you say everybody; right? [applause] >> i mean i wish i could dance moves like that. all right. one, two, three. you got your pictures? we want to make sure we see all these wonderful students' faces in the picture. [applause] >> all right. here we go. big, big round of applause. [applause]

>> dragon pose. dragon pose. serious, brave and courageous. there you go. all right. thank you very much. big round of applause for gordon j. lau elementary school performers. [applause] >> and of course our wonderful brian here from lion dance. thank you. . >> [off mic] [applause]

>> thank you. good job. [applause] >> all right. another big round of applause. [applause] >> i'm going to

invite my cohost to come up, our chair will be joining me on the stage. good evening. my name is carmen chu and one of the cohosts today i want to welcome you all to city hall. i know many of you come from far and wide and busy schedules to join us with this wonderful celebration. as we go in the city and celebrate the lunar new year it's important to know what the lunar new year celebrates. [off mic] with our family to watch all the previous year and celebrate and un-- unity and coming together and we welcome to you city hall and hope you have a wonderful time in today's performance. [speaking foreign language] and with that let me

turn it over with comments from my do host. first i will start off with the sheriff. >> thank you carmen. [applause] applause happy new year everyone. it's always difficult to follow carmen and dragons and little dragons and lions and the wonderful culture represented here tonight. i'm very happy to see you here and as the mayor mentioned always welcoming people to city hall is a wonderful thing. we will have more fun on saturday at the parade and not like the one earlier but i will be under a dragon head in the parade and i look forward to that every year and i want you to be there as well because we feed off the energy of the audience and the community as we celebrate the lunar new year together so i will do my best right now. [speaking foreign language]

wow big round of applause. good job. [applause] >> it's wonderful to be here today on lunar new year. i am the public defender and you know as a son of indian immigrants it's special to see the wonderful diversity and how everyone shows their full potential. i was able to fortunately go home over the winter break and go to india and went to japan and back here in san francisco is really beautiful. i am in a jury trial seeing the wonderful diversity on the jury and i always want to sayad public defenders and san francisco's public defender i believe what is truly the power and potential of every individual and wonderful to see it come together here and when i need

inspiration i will go to the youth here and the dragons and they're amazing and lunar new year and happy new year and hope everyone enjoys the enjoy festivities. >> i'm going to invite others up here and after the speaking the mayor to come up with a photo with the elected officials and department heads so come on up. our assessor torres. . >> i want to go before him because he's going to wow everyone with his cantonese and i'm going to wish everyone a happy new year and thank you so much for pulling this together. this is always an amazing amaze maze event. claudine you do so much for the city and

so much for these celebrations in city hall and to everyone that made this happen thank you and happy year dragon everybody. [applause] >> so did you think ho ychoy and the extend of the chinese i know and this what i look forward to every 12 years and i'm a baby of the dragon and along with supervisor peskin who couldn't be here and my legislative aide is also year of the dragon so we're excited in the district six office. [applause] >> [speaking foreign language] i want to wish everyone a very happy, happy year of the dragon, auspicious,

prosperous, healthy, joyful extraordinary times for all of you and your families and see you in chinatown on saturday. >> thank you. [applause] >> all right. hey everybody. nobody celebrates lunar new year and the culture and the diversity of our community better than the city and county of san francisco in the entire country. i want to wish everyone a happy lunar new year and look forward to see you at at parade facultysh saturday. look forward for the book mobile. >> thank you. i want to recognize my department heads. michael you weren't supposed to say something but glad you did and i want to welcome all of the department heads here and and mayor would you please come on up to take a photo with department head and other elected official and i will ask my folks

to come up and stand loser closer to the lion. . >> >> and please stand closer to the lion. . >> all right. [applause] >> and now of course for the performances. i think as most folks know we have so many different cultures represented in san

francisco. many folks who all celebrate the lunar new year so of course we want to welcome and show case some of the amazing talent here in san francisco and so i will be introducing two dance performers that we will be starting. first is a dance performance by parangal dance company a filipino and folk dance and non-profit based here in san francisco. we will be having two dances from them and one is sohten and thalek and see a performance from the korean culture andept representing and honoring peace and harmony. please welcome both of these performances. [applause] >> (dance

performances)

[applause] >> beautiful. let's give our two performances a big round of applause again. thank you. [applause] >> before our third and last performance i would like to introduce two community speakers to the stage. we have the presiding president of the

chinese consolidated console benevolent association and they have sponsored so many events celebrating the chinese new year and as well as the chamber of commerce. welcome to both of you. [applause] >> honorable mayor lee, city officials, honorable guests and friends, happy new year. [applause] >> i am the presiding president of the chinese consolidated benevolent association. on behalf of the association it's my

honor to wish everybody a happy healthy pro perrous year of the dragon. lunar new year is a celebration of the arrival of spring and the beginning of the new year on the hundredar solar calendar. it's the most important holiday in china and celebrated for every 3,000 years. it is the time of the year to reunify the immediate and extended family. on september 29, 2022 governor newsom proclaimed this day as

california holiday. at the end of last year the united nations also made it a holiday. that's big. this meaningful celebration world wide event. i'm grateful to have the opportunity to represent the chinese consul benevolent celebration to attend this celebration and continue the good working relationship with city hall. to promote the chinese culture and freedom and tradition.

[speaking foreign language]

[applause] >> all right good evening everybody. i'm malconyoung representing the chinese chamber of commerce. our president wade apologizes he couldn't be here this evening. he's taking care of some important details. i want to everyone to give a big round of applause to all of the performers and especially the young people from gordon lau and dance team. i can tell you the lunchtime was well spent; right? and in really in all honesty because it's the young people that carry on our traditions that are really the next generation that make sure we have the cultural identity so thank you very much. second

repeat after me. [speaking foreign language] okay now you can all speak chinese as well as as joaquin. you know every year the chamber helps to organize the lunar new year parade and madam mayor you mentioned earlier there's so many things that make san francisco unique and special and the lunar new year parade is one of those things. it's the only night time lunar new year in the country, the largest one in the country and for those that have been in person you know it's a spectacle. you can't feel the magic. you can't feel the power of it unless you're standing on the ground with the performers and it's going to be a beautiful, beautiful year. i want just to make sure to highlight some of the special things we're doing in this year of the

dragon. we are introducing we're debuting a new green wood dragon so look out for that. that's going to be incredible. we have an amazing grand marshal this year, the hollywood actress aqua finna. but we want to show her that we do lunar new year way better than l.a. so all the hollywood people need to come up here to get the real thing and also i really want to say that we have an incredible number of performers and units this year, 122 to be expect. the number keeps going up and up and up and i mention this because the time and energy and dedication it takes to get ready for the parade is something that folks do all year around so it's an incredible special moment and please pay attention to all of the units

because they spend so much time on tnow the chamber organizes this thing but we don't put it o it's a community and city effort and first of all i want to thank the hundreds and hundreds of volunteers that come out to support the parade and you know it's a production. it's incredible. it takes a lot of person power and the volunteers make it happen. secondly i want to thank our city's leaders ma'am mayor, london breed for the support year in and year out. the city contributes funding to make it happen. that's really critical but the work of the department heads keeping us safe and clean and everything orderly. that's so important so thank you especially to the sheriffs, the firefighters, san francisco police department and i know they're in commission right now. thank you to dpw for cleaning up afterwards. it's a big task and thank you for the

transportation. for those going to the parade there's go through the new chinatown rose pac station and via that instead of driving and i want to invite everyone to the parade and it's going to be amazing and madam mayor we hope that you can call the weather service to make it a beautiful evening and we know you will help with that. thank you. >> thank you and now i would like to invite back up claudine cheng and the apa heritage foundation representatives for a special presentation to the mayor, mayor breed please join us on stage. yes, you mayor. we only have one mayor here. .

>> all right. so this is the year of the green wood dragon. i think we all know by now so we're very pleased -- we have many versions of the dragon and around town but we saw a very, very special and unique one. i would like to introduce our san francisco's own artist. her piece was really stunning and i think this year the community has chosen for commissioner to present this plaque to you mayor. it would look great in the mayor's office. [applause] >> and maybe the

commissioner would like to explain a little bit about this. maybe the artist would like to say a few words about this special piece. >> thank you so much. thank you so much for having me. i'm so excited here to present the year of the dragon art. this is a special piece because this is not generated by ai. i actually generate this -- i create this at work by hand on apple computer using adobe software. it symbolizes the innovation spirit of san francisco bay area where technology meets humanity and liberal art and the east meets west and the tradition meets contemporary. i'm incredibly honor toed here and i echo every previous speaker and performers and i wish you all a

happy lunar new year of the dragon. thank you so much. cheers. >> thank you. another round of applause. [applause] >> it certainly takes a village to create the celebrations across the city whether in the san francisco chinatown, in visitacion valley, sunset, excelsior, or ocean avenue and we see celebrations and thank all the committee members for the help, claudine cheng in particular for all of the work, some of the folks at city hall and rob and others who did an amazing job to support this event. we're going to have our final performance today and this is a real treat. this is a dance from you know no nishia and will be performed by monali varaiya and this is

performed for celebratory occasions in the temple. (performance)

[applause]

>> i want to take a name to thank all the wonderful performers today. let's give them another big round of applause. [applause] >> thank you mayor breed for your tireless support of events like this that celebrate the richness of our community. i know events like this couldn't happen without your support and strong advocacy and thank you for your support. i to thank all the community partners to make this event possible and of course think claudine cheng and the people that do this on a yearly basis. a big round of applause. thank you. as malcolm said early year we're looking to see everyone at the lunar new year parade this year. it's going to be a big fun parade. come out and celebrate the city we all love. for more information on events in the city go to

our website. this concludes tonight's program. happy new year. thank you so much for joining us. [applause]

[music] hi. i'm san francisco mayor london breed i want to congratulate sfgovtv on 30 years of dedicated service as a broadcast channel for our vibrant city. you played a critical role during the pan dem and i can worked keep residents informed. adapted to changing situations that allowed our residents to engage and participate in government. thank you for 3 decades of informing and inspiring and connect the people of san francisco as the voice that

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