Smithsonian American Art Museum Celebrates the Chinese Year of the Monkey (photos)

According to the Chines lunar calendar, the first day of Year of the Red Monkey is February 8, 2016. The Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington D.C. celebrated a few days early with a Chinese themed family day on Saturday, January 30, 2016. The program included performances by the Henan Performance Group of Cbina and the Yong Han Lion Dance Troupe of Johns Hopkins University. For kids there were a variety of activities and demonstrations throughout the day including traditional paper cutting, painting, and sculpting by Henan Folk Artists; calligraphy demonstrations with the Confucius Institute at George Washington University; mask coloring and Chinese knot making with the Confucius Institute at George Washington University; calligraphy by John Wang; plus red paper lantern making, coloring sheets, and monkey hand puppet crafting. The program was presented in partnership with the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China.

View our photos from the event by clicking on the photo icons below. (All photos by Jeff Malet).