A Red and Gold New Year:
the History of Lunar New Year and Portland’s Chinatown
By Ava Nguyen
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Lunar New Year, or Tét, in Vietnamese, is a holiday generally celebrated in Asian countries like China, Vietnam, and Korea, though each country has its own name for it. Lunar New Year is the celebration of the new year according to the lunar calendar. The lunar calendar is based on the cycles of the moon, so each year, Lunar New Year falls somewhere between January 21 and February 20.
Picture above: Portland Chinatown Museum exterior
Survey
Most people who celebrate Lunar New Year have family or friends who also celebrate it. 90 percent of people surveyed from Teach NW Charter School (including teachers, students, and parents) have heard of Lunar New Year. Most people who didn’t learn about it from their families, learned about it from television or school.
Picture: Pie chart from survey
The Zodiac
This year, the start of the two week Lunar New Year celebration is on February 17. The origins of Tét most likely stemmed from the Chinese Lunar New Year celebration. A big part of Lunar New Year is the Zodiac. It marks the beginning of a new Zodiac year. This year is the Year of the Fire Horse, which only happens once every sixty years. The Vietnamese Zodiac is very similar to the Chinese Zodiac.
Picture: the Chinese Zodiac calendar from the Lan Su Chinese Gardens
Preparing for the New Year
To prepare for the Lunar New Year, families will dust and clean their house to sweep out any bad luck. Kids make and decorate paper lanterns. Adults will get new money from the bank for lucky money. Lucky money is a red and gold envelope with money in it, often given to younger members of the family as a sign of good luck. “Well, my favorite Lunar New Year tradition is getting money,” said local historian Terry Chung. In Vietnamese, lucky money is called lì xì (pronounced lee-see). Red and gold are especially lucky colors, thought to ward off evil spirits.
Picture: Paper lantern and lucky money
Family Traditions
Lunar New Year is often celebrated with parades, dragon and lion dances, fireworks, and the exchange of lucky money. My family has a party with my cousins and Bà (Vietnamese for grandma) every year, where we eat traditional Vietnamese food and wear our traditional Vietnamese dresses called āo dài (pronounced ow yai). We also play Uno, but that’s not a traditional thing. My family also likes to go to Downtown Portland for the Lunar New Year parade and dragon dance in the Historic Chinatown District. The parade has loud fireworks, confetti cannons, drummers, and lion and dragon dancers. This year, the parade is on Saturday, March 7 in front of the Portland Chinatown Museum.
Picture: Me and my sister, Ruby, wearing Vietnamese dresses at the Oregon Children's Museum in February 2018
Places to See in Chinatown
Downtown Portland’s Historic Chinatown District is full of rich history and culture. Established in 1886, the Chinatown District is set apart by its architecture, food, and museums. There are many different field trip opportunities, like the Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education, Japanese American Museum of Oregon, and the Lan Su Chinese Garden, which is a peaceful, year-round garden in the heart of Chinatown. Out of all the fun things to do in Chinatown, my family’s personal favorite is the Portland Chinatown Museum (PCM). It has amazing exhibits about the history of Chinatown. Only one person out of 36 surveyed at Teach NW have been to the Portland Chinatown Museum, so when you’re deciding your next field trip, consider PCM.
Picture: Building exteriors on NW Davis St. in Chinatown
History of Portland’s Chinatown
Chinese immigrants began moving to Portland during the early 1860s. Some moved north from the California Gold Rush, while others traveled on steamships from China. Most of the immigrants were male bachelors looking for work in America, however there were also many families living in Chinatown. Immigrants were met with a lot of prejudice and blatant racism, even from the government. In 1882, Congress passed the first Chinese Exclusion Act, which made it so only Chinese immigrants that had family in the US could live here. It also kept Chinese and Japanese people from getting jobs in the US. The Chinatown District at its largest was fourteen blocks in 1885. Since then, the number of Chinese and Japanese owned stores and restaurants has decreased. However, the Jade District, centered around the intersection of 82nd Ave. and SE Division St, has increased in popularity.
Picture: Portland’s Front Avenue, 1851 (Photograph from the Portland Chinatown Museum’s permanent exhibit)
Q & A with PCM’s Local Historian and Contributor,
Terry Chung
Q: How long have you worked at the Portland Chinatown Museum? (Answered by Terry’s wife, Sarah Chung)
A: We’ve both been volunteering at the Portland Chinatown Museum since it opened in 2018.
Q: What is your favorite Lunar New Year tradition?
A: Well, my favorite Lunar New Year tradition is getting money. Getting money and setting off the firecrackers. I’m kind of a pyromaniac because I have a ton of fireworks at home.
Q: This year is the 10th annual Lunar New Year celebration hosted by the museum. Is there something you're especially excited about for this year?
A: The fact that we’re getting a lot of new sponsors for the Lunar New Year. We’re making a conscious effort to have a lot of local businesses support the museum, to expand it and help make it better each year.
Q: What can homeschooling families expect when they visit the museum?
A: I think if they’re going through by themselves, they need to read the placards. Because if they can’t read the placards, they don’t understand what it is that they’re seeing, and what those placards are trying to tell you about the Chinese and their history and the conditions that they faced.
Pictures left to right: My little cousin in front of the pond at Lan Su Chinese Garden, phoenix float on the pond at Lan Su Chinese Garden, lion dancer at last year’s Lunar New Year parade, pond at Lan Su Chinese Garden decorated for Lunar New Year, view of Downtown from Lan Su Chinese Garden tea house, Chinatown Gateway on NW Couch St
Photos taken by Ava Nguyen and Annie Lund.
Citations
Portland Chinatown Museum - Portland Chinatown Museum. (n.d.). Portland Chinatown Museum. https://www.portlandchinatownmuseum.org/
Roberts, D. (2026, January 26). Lunar New Year celebrations in Portland. The Official Guide to Portland. https://www.travelportland.com/events/lunar-new-year/
Preston, Charles. (4 Mar. 2025) Tết. Encyclopedia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Tet-holiday
Britannica Editors. (18 Feb. 2026) Lunar New Year. Encyclopedia Britannica https://www.britannica.com/topic/Lunar-New-Year
Portland New Chinatown/Japantown Historic District (U.S. National Park Service). (n.d.). https://www.nps.gov/places/portland-new-chinatown-japantown-historic-district.htm
Prado, E. (2025, September 16). Jade District. The Official Guide to Portland. https://www.travelportland.com/neighborhoods/jade-district/
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