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The University of Memphis Confucius Institute invites students to enter The Year of the Dragon this Saturday at the Belz Museum of Asian and Judaic Art's annual Chinese New Year festival.
Former Belz Museum Director Nancy Knight and museum founders Jack and Marilyn Belz invited The Confucius Institute to join them in their Chinese New Year family day celebrations in 2004.
"I'm not really sure how to describe our relationship with The Belz Museum. We're like friends," said Huihui Wang, Chinese instructor from the Confucius Institute.
The dragon is the fifth sign in the Chinese zodiac cycle. According to the museum's website, "people born under the sign of the dragon are energetic and warmhearted, charismatic, lucky at love and egotistic. They're natural-born leaders, good at giving orders and doing what's necessary to remain on top."
Since Wang was born under the sign of the pig, generally associated with laziness, she said she is not a fan of the characteristics associated with the zodiac.
The Year of the Dragon started Jan. 23, and next year will be The Year of the Snake.
Saturday's festival is set to start at noon and last until 4 p.m. The main event, themed "Enter the Dragon to 2012," is the judging of the 8th annual Chinese New Year Art Contest. Participants range from kindergarteners to high school students. The museum received 124 entries — all from Memphis city, Shelby county and local private schools.
"The art is usually displayed at the public library, but this year we decided to display it at the museum. It brings more people downtown, and the tourists have really enjoyed the contest," said Marie Dennan, the museum's guest services administrator.
Winners are determined through voting by the public. Terre Gorham, editor of Memphis Downtowner magazine, and Cat Tená, who works at The Memphis College of Art gift shop, are the guest judges who will pick the final winners.
A number of prizes, including Grizzlies memorabilia signed by Mark Gasol and family passes to The Memphis Zoo, will be awarded to the winners, which are to be announced at Saturday's festival.
An Erhu (a traditional Chinese two-stringed instrument) musical performance is scheduled along with a storytelling session that will explain why animals are part of the Chinese zodiac.
"We will be having a presentation of the dragon, paper cutting and will show cultural pieces of Chinese tradition. If you have friends who are interested, it will be a warm welcome," said Yang Yiping, associate director of the Confucius Institute.
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