Love and good fortune, were the themes for Chinese Lunar New Year.

Cerritos College celebrated Lunar New Year on Wednesday, Feb. 17, with dance performances, activities and Panda Express.

According to Soo Yoo, board of education clerk at ABS Unified School District, the celebration was not only for the Chinese New Year but also for the celebration of diversity and different cultures.

She said, “Learning about each other’s culture and language I think is very important to understand each other.”

Yoo added that this sort of thing breaks down walls of racism and prejudice.

The Wong Tai Sen Lion Dance group opened the celebration with a dance meant to bring good fortune and love to the new year.

Sau Ho, who has been leading the group for 25 years, spoke about the significance of the dance.

“First day of the new year [people] want to touch the lion’s head, to bring them love. That’s the main thing,” he said.

Ho added that during this time of the year the dance group performs at different events like weddings or birthday parties.

Jim Truong, one of the dancers, said, “I felt very energetic and excited […] the dance means to bring fortune and scare away evil.”

During the celebration there was also a performance by the Erhu Adult calss, in which Board of Trustees President Shin Liu was a part of.

The Erhu is a two-string Chinese violin that is mainly played in the rural parts of China for its simplicity.

Liu said that being on stage with the group made her nervous because she is not a professional Erhu player.

She had been practicing for a month.

“For me personally it brings back some childhood memories because I remember people would gather and play this music,” Liu said.

One of the activities was teaching Cerritos College President Jose Fierro and the audience a few phrases in Mandarin.

According to Yoo, there will be a Korean culture and spirit day on March 23 which will feature a KPop group as well as other festivities.