Peter Lung remembers how excited he was for Chinese New Year as a boy. He would anxiously count the days until he’d get to wear brand-new clothes, eat mandarin oranges and receive hong bao (red packets) filled with money.
Lung says he still experiences that same excitement, decorating his home and Chinatown business—World of Feng Shui, a store specializing in jewelry, art and books about Chinese art and science—for the new year.
Chinese New Year, also known as the Lunar New Year or the Spring Festival, is a 15-day celebration that begins on the first day of the lunar calendar. The holiday is also observed in other Asian countries, including Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, North Korea, Singapore, South Korea and Vietnam. It’s a major driver for Chinese tourism, according to officials with the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, which ranked China the fifth-largest market for international visitation to Las Vegas in 2018 with 236,970 travelers.
The Year of the Rat begins on January 25 with an explosion of cultural festivities across the Valley. But it wasn’t always that way, says Jan-Ie Low, executive producer of the annual Chinese New Year in the Desert celebration, now in its ninth year. Low, who moved to Las Vegas in 2004, says Chinese New Year events were once hosted solely by a small cluster of Asian American-owned businesses along Spring Mountain Road.
Those businesses would eventually multiply and become Las Vegas’ Chinatown district. But the Valley was quite different in those days, says Lung, who remembers driving to LA to get to the closest Asian grocery store.
“It looked like a countryside back then,” he says.
For 25 years, Chinatown Plaza served as the primary venue for Chinese New Year events in Las Vegas. The site will not host any events this year, says property manager Joe Shen, but he adds that the Plaza is happy to pass the torch.
“Our whole purpose was to expand the horizon for all Nevada residents and make it inclusive for everyone,” he says.
Low says she established CNY in the Desert to spread Chinese and Asian culture beyond Chinatown. She says it has since grown extensively since its humble beginnings on Fremont Street in 2012, expanding to venues like the Grand Canal Shoppes at the Venetian, Ping Pang Pong at the Gold Coast and Downtown’s Arts District. “Our intention is to spread the love across Clark County,” she says.
Las Vegas has also evolved as an international destination for Chinese New Year celebrations, says Rafael Villanueva, senior director of global development for the LVCVA.
“Years ago, the Chinese New Year celebration in Las Vegas was solely focused on the high-end Asian player,” he says. But now that travel from mainland China is easier and the local Asian community has grown, the celebration “has grown from private ballrooms to the entire resort, and blossomed throughout much of our community.”
Low says it has become a trend for younger Chinese tourists to travel abroad, with many receiving time off work during the two-week celebration. She adds that Las Vegas is an especially popular destination because gambling is a good luck tradition during Chinese New Year.
Janet LaFevre, senior marketing manager at the Grand Canal Shoppes, says that when Chinese tourism began booming about a decade ago, her marketing team looked for ways to be more “China-ready”—and made sure that the mall’s retailers and restaurants offered menus and welcoming messages in Mandarin.
“Luxury brands like Louis Vuitton and Burberry have always been savvy when it comes to the international market, because the Chinese market loves international goods,” she says.
LaFevre says it’s imperative to stay culturally relevant by organizing annual Chinese New Year events like eye-dotting ceremonies and lion dances, along with the passing out of red packets filled with money and prizes. The famous Mandarin phrase “gong xi fa cai hong bao na lai” translates to “Happy New Year; now give me the red packet.”
“We have a [multilingual] China specialist on staff,” LaFevre says. “We also work with the team at LVCVA ... We are heavily aligned and are in good cultural stead together.”
Lung, an expert in feng shui design, consults the horticulture team at the Venetian and Palazzo when transforming the Waterfall Atrium for the New Year, to ensure cultural accuracy. One common mistake, he says: passing out red packets without prizes or money in them.
For Low, originally from Malaysia but of Chinese descent, the festival represents community growth. “Nine years ago, it felt like there was no culture happening here,” she says. “[Now], we’ve been embraced by the community.”
A few of the many ways to celebrate the Year of the Rat in Las Vegas
ENTERTAINMENT
The annual Spring Festival Parade takes place in the Arts District this year, starting at Utah Avenue and Main Street and proceeding north toward California Street. The afterparty will feature lion dances, a youth hockey clinic by the Vegas Golden Knights and martial arts demonstrations, along with acrobats and traditional Chinese music throughout the day. January 25, 9:30 a.m.
Rampart Casino will kick off the new year on January 25 with a traditional lion dance. Additional festivities include a bamboo plant giveaway on January 27 and $5,000 red packet table games on February 4, when commemorative $5 Year of the Rat chips will also be available from 10 a.m.-10 p.m.
Fashion Show Mall will host a variety of cultural events and dances, including a lantern garden light show and lion and dragon dances, from January 25-February 8 at 2, 6 and 8 p.m. each day.
CUISINE
Caesars Palace restaurants Beijing Noodle No. 9, Mr Chow and the Bacchanal Buffet will feature special menus January 25-February 8.
China Poblano at the Cosmopolitan will feature a special menu from January 20-February 2 featuring specialty dishes like the “Secret Garden.”
Ping Pang Pong at the Gold Coast will offer a traditional nine-course family dinner, January 26 at 5:30 p.m., marking the end of CNY in the Desert festivities.
Venetian restaurantsHong Kong Cafe (throughout January) and Mott 32 (January 17-February 2) will serve up special menus.
Wing Lei at Wynn will offer a Chinese New Year Dim Sum Brunch January 24-February 2 from 10:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m.
ART
The Bellagio Conservatory & Botanical Gardens will showcase a Lunar New Year display—including a rat centerpiece, gilded in gold and sitting on gold ingot bowls—until March 7.
The Waterfall Atrium and Gardens at the Venetian and Palazzo will have a 16-foot golden rat sculpture—surrounded by green gardens and red and orange bromeliads, calandivas, chrysanthemums and orchids—on display until March 4.
