San Francisco’s Chinese community prepares for last weekend’s Lunar New Year celebrations

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — Preparations were underway at the Hilton San Francisco Union Square hotel Friday night ahead of the last weekend of the Lunar New Year.

This is where hundreds of people gathered for this year’s Miss Chinatown USA pageant.

“We’ve been around for over 60 years,” says Noreen Wong.

Wong is the competition coordinator. She says this year’s event is the biggest.

But the competition is just one of several events taking place in the city this weekend.

VIDEO: Art of Chinese and Latin American immigrant women to be showcased at Lunar New Year Parade in San Francisco

“We have a record number of vehicles in the parade, as well as more than 100,000 vendors lined the streets of Chinatown,” said Donald Luu of the San Francisco Chinese Chamber of Commerce.

On Saturday, the Chinese New Year parade – the largest of its kind outside of Asia – will take place through the streets of San Francisco.

The parade has long become one of the brightest events in the city calendar.

But this year will be different: safety will come first after two recent mass shootings in Monterey Park and Half Moon Bay.

“All law enforcement agencies assure us that they will be there. They will be vigilant,” Luu said.

VIDEO: What is Lunar New Year and how is it different from Chinese New Year?

In addition to these incidents, the rise in hate crimes against Asian Americans since the pandemic has been of concern to the community over the past few years.

But despite these challenges, local leaders say they are determined to make this year’s celebration even better.

“We are a very resilient community. Despite all the difficulties we have faced throughout history in this country, we continue to grow,” Luu said.

A way to proudly celebrate your culture and continue to share it with the rest of the world.

“The transcontinental railroad has been a big contributor to turning all these great Chinese Americans into professionals right now,” Wong said.

For more information about the holiday, visit here.

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