United States: Cupertino, California Councillor Gilbert Wong Appreciates the Diversity in DPA

An awestruck audience showered Divine Performing Arts with thunderous applause after two-and-half hours when the Chinese New Year Spectacular drew to a successful close at the Flint Centre for the Performing Arts in Cupertino, California. Many expressed their appreciation for the extraordinary show.

Gilbert Wong was the first American-born Chinese to be elected councilman in the city of Cupertino, and he was especially impressed with the diversity that is characteristic of DPA performances. He praised the DPA sponsors for making available unconventional career paths for Chinese American youth: "What I liked about it was I not only saw first generation performers from China but second and third generation Chinese like me. Traditionally, Chinese parents, when they come here, they want you to study to be a doctor, an attorney, or an engineer, but there are other things that you can do, like arts and politics. Not the traditional stuff, but part of the culture that we should be embracing, our American culture. I like to see [Chinese Americans from] different fields, and that's what I liked about tonight."

For councilor Wong, the representation of various ethnic groups was also a standout feature of the Spectacular, "The heritage was the most important thing to me tonight, not just the Chinese dancing and music, but also that China is not just Han Chinese but also 55 different minorities, and tonight we saw three minority performances from the Yi in southwest [China], the Mongolians and Tibetans, so that was a cross-section [of Chinese culture]."

He also commented on the artistry of the performers, saying, "The tenors were very, very excellent, the orchestra, the dancing.... The costumes were just absolutely fabulous!"