David Youtz
Saturday, February 4, 2017 - Saturday began with a colorful parade through downtown marking the Chinese New Year and was capped with a toast to New Haven’s budding relationship with its Chinese soon-to-be sister city of Changsha — a beacon of people-to-people diplomacy at a time of uncertain government relations.
This attitude of national uncertainty and local enthusiasm was one of the defining sentiments of a formal reception held on the second floor of Yale’s Woolsey Hall on Saturday night that celebrated New Haven’s plan to establish its formal relationship with Changsha, the capital of Hunan Province in central China.
The event was one of the capstones of Lunarfest 2017, New Haven’s annual Chinese New Year festival, which features a variety of activities around the city and Yale’s campus that celebrate Chinese history and culture.