San Francisco Celebrates Chinese New Year with Cultural Gala

Event at public library features Chinese art, calligraphy, music, and tea ceremony.

Published on Feb. 7, 2026

A cultural event was held at the San Francisco Public Library on Friday to celebrate the upcoming Chinese New Year, the Year of the Horse. The gala featured a variety of Chinese artworks, calligraphy demonstrations, folk music performances, and a traditional tea ceremony.

Why it matters

San Francisco has a large and vibrant Chinese-American community, and events like this help preserve and promote Chinese cultural traditions within the city. The Lunar New Year is an important holiday celebrated by millions around the world.

The details

The event included a calligrapher writing the Chinese character "Fu," meaning good fortune, for visitors. Traditional Chinese folk music and a tea ceremony were also part of the festivities, which aimed to welcome the upcoming Year of the Horse in the Chinese zodiac.

  • The cultural event was held on Friday, February 6, 2026.

The players

San Francisco Public Library

The public library system in San Francisco, California that hosted the Chinese New Year cultural event.

Liu Yilin

A photographer from Xinhua News Agency who captured images of the event.

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The takeaway

Events like this cultural gala help celebrate the diversity of San Francisco's population and preserve important traditions from the city's Chinese-American community.