2023 Chinese New Year at Lan Su Chinese Garden

Portland’s most popular Chinese New Year Celebration is back at Lan Su Chinese Garden. The two-week festival features hanging red lanterns, performances, light displays and activities.

The Chinese New Year festival is celebrating the Year of the Rabbit from January 21-February 5, 2023. Here’s how you can participate in the Chinese New Year celebration at Lan Su Chinese Garden.

2023 Chinese New Year at Lan Su Chinese Garden

Chinese New Year Opening

To kick off Chinese New Year, Lan Su is hosting an event right outside the garden on Saturday, January 21, from 9:30 to 10 a.m. Invite energy and prosperity into the Year of the Rabbit at this community event.

Starting at 9:45 a.m. Portland Lee’s Association Dragon and Lion Dance Team will entertain visitors with a lion dance performance.

This event is free to attend. It does not include admission to the garden.

If you can’t visit in person, Lan Su Chinese Garden will livestream the performance on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Daytime Chinese New Year Festival

In celebration of the official beginning of the Year of the Rabbit on January 21, the garden is celebrating 16 days of Chinese New Year with special activities. On opening day, the first 500 visitors will receive a hong bao, a traditional lucky red envelope at entry.

Here are the activities you can partake in during the daytime festival:

• Lion Dance performance
• Martial art demonstration
• Chinese dance performance
• Chinese calligraphy workshop
• Chinese brush painting
• Family craft activities
• Chopstick challenge
• Foods of the New Year

The Chinese New Year daytime festival will be held 10 a.m.-4 p.m. from January 21-February 5, 2023.

Tickets are $14 for adults, $13 for seniors (age 62 and over), and $11 for students (age 6-18 and college students with I.D.). Kids 5 and under get in for free. 

Chinese New Year Lantern Viewing Evenings

Experience Lan Su’s Chinese New Year Celebration with eight evenings of traditional lantern viewings. The garden will be aglow with hanging red lanterns along the roof lines and illuminated sculptures and lotus lanterns floating in Lake Zither.

One of the main features of this event is the dragon dance procession. Portland Lee’s Association Dragon and Lion Dance Team will parade a 50-foot illuminated dragon throughout the garden.

In 2021, Lan Su Chinese Garden unveiled a lighted phoenix from China. This 18-foot phoenix lantern sculpture joins the 20-foot dragon lantern sculpture in the garden’s Lake Zither during the festival. 

Your family can test your chopstick skills at the chopstick challenge. The Garden Teahouse will be serving tea and snacks for purchase during the lantern viewing.

The Lantern Viewing Evenings will take place on select evenings in January and February from 5-8:30 p.m. There are two time slots available each night: 5-6:30 p.m. and 7-8:30 p.m.

Here are the event dates:

• Thursday, January 26
• Friday, January 27
• Saturday, January 28
• Sunday, January 29
• Thursday, February 2
• Friday, February 3
• Saturday, February 4
• Sunday, February 5

Tickets are $45 for adults and $15 for kids age 3-11. Tickets go on sale at at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, December 20. 

Oregon and Washington EBT cardholders pay $25 for up to 4 tickets per cardholder. These tickets are only available at the Lan Su ticket booth.

For more information and to purchase your tickets, visit the Lan Su Chinese Garden website.

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