October 1st Flag raising ceremony

Today we went to the celebrate friendly China U.S. relations at city hall and the founding of the PROC, which many Chinese Americans wish never happened, but it did and things are getting better and better as China becomes a world power and so if other Americans can celebrate it, I guess we should too. That being said, My grandfather was Kuomintang for sure, and my kids grandparents are Taiwanese, so we will definitely be going next week as well.
I went to help out team Wong Keurng, though I wasn't much use since I had the two kids, and enough people showed up that I wasn't really needed.
But it was good to show up just in case I was needed. My plan would have been to do tail while holding Jonah (because he kept running away.) Noah however was pretty behaved and played swords with the teenagers of the team. It was good to see friendly faces and chat about nothing of importance. I say it's good for Noah and Jonah to be involved with and part of as many teams as possible. It shows what a reagt social time you can have through lion dance. And more than anything we went to support Wong Keurng because they supported our team, that is to say, my Si Hing's team, and besides they are cool.

We just watched the lion dance (instead of performing, though Noah held is baby head and danced next to the drum) and it was fun to show our support for this team and also entertaining to see real lion dance. (as opposed to lion dance with cardboard masks that I do every week.) Maybe you think my kids see enough lion dance. But how often to I get to just watch and enjoy as a spectator? Not often. They heads and the drumming were powerful and it really brought the whole ceremony together. Before the lion dance the music Chinese Piano music piping in the background was very China. As in it brought you right back to the actual place. Specifically some sort of hotel or something like that. The music was very.. I want to say 1920's but back then  the PROC didn't exist. But it gave you that feel of being in some sort of parallel universe. Especially since we were in City Hall.

After we saw the lion dance we left early (because Noah wanted to) and we got pizza and fruit from Haymarket which we ate on the way back to Stony Brook. Next week I will probably just bring Noah again, like last year, and we will stay longer. The show is better and after all we will be really celebrating the ideals of both flags. Whereas today, many Chinese Americans, were really representing the American side of China U.S. relations and our friendship with the country and especially are friendships and relationships with people who are from that country, as opposed to cheering for it as our own country or ideals. Most bystanders at such ceremonies will see Asian faces and a Chinese flag and not realize some at the ceremony might even feel conflicted about being there. Because the White or Black Americans will think such a ceremony to be a fun cultural event.

I could hear many people saying in Chinese, "No, no I want an American flag." Jonah and I were given the China flags. When you are white, you can get away with it.
I saw a white guy dressed with a Chinese fishing hat and white Chinese outfit. "That's me." I told myself.
But really I should not feel any conflict at all. Especially if America doesn't.

 Of course there were a lot of people there who came to the U.S. straight from PROC and don't see any conflict whatsoever. They are proud of the flag they were born under, and proud of the flag they are not living under. And I suppose I wanted to celebrate for my friends among them as well. After all, all our little playmates at the playground in Brookline are from the mainland? And don;t I enjoy learning from them and studying the new chess games I hadn't seen before which are actually enacting PLA battles? And isn't our own government often questionable in their actions? And yet these actions do not make us love our country less. What is a flag? China is China, and America is America. let's celebrate together. That being said, next week we will probably celebrate harder. With cheers and screaming and Kuomintang flag waving.