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New year brings culture lesson Mail Tribune / Bob Pennell Jeresa Hren, left, and Darlene Turner model traditional Chinese costumes in preparation for Jacksonville�s first Chinese New Year celebration. Hren�s gown is a replica of a 12th century Mongolian bride�s dress, and Turner is wearing a Manchurian costume. Celebration features Chinese costumes, music By Melissa Martin JACKSONVILLE � Jeresa Hren ties back her hair and dons a fur hat that a Mongolian bride might have worn. She slips into an orange-red satin wedding gown, admiring the wool underneath and colorful embroidery on top. "These beads would have been pearls," said Hren, fingering the headpiece. "The decorative pattern and rich fabric was a way of showing off their wealth and jewels." Hren modeled one of about 25 costumes borrowed from the Chinese Cultural Service Center in Seattle as part of her preparations for a Chinese New Year celebration that starts in Jacksonville this week. The celebration, the first of its kind for Jacksonville, will feature a variety of activities, from a parade and gold mining demonstrations to calligraphy lessons. Merchants are putting on the event to pay tribute to the Chinese residents who dug the mining ditches and built the railroads that helped develop the town in the 1800s. The replica costumes are one way Hren hopes to bring Chinese culture and history to folks in the Rogue Valley. The collection includes a silk robe with a wide velvet headpiece worn by literary and intellectual officials in the Sung dynasty (960 to 1286 A.D.) and a uniform worn by Liang Hung-Yu, China�s first female soldier, at about the same time. "A lot of these have stories," said Hren, holding up a replica of cotton breeches from the Chou period 400 years before the birth of Christ. The peasant clothing was worn by Hsi Shih, one of China�s "four famous beauties." "She was literally washing clothes in a stream when she was found by one of the soldiers who presented her to the emperor," Hren said. "The emperor fell in love with her beauty and then later sent her away to the enemy�s territory. Then that emperor fell in love with her and it brought down the whole dynasty." While the celebration starts this week, the costumes won�t be on display until Feb. 3, when they�ll be shown and modeled in the U.S. Hotel Ballroom. Hren�s classmates from Taipai Municipal First Girls High School in Taiwan, the Ho class alumni of 1970, will present a fashion show and demonstrate calligraphy, ribbon dancing, paper cutting and folk singing. Hren�s friends decided to help her with the Chinese New Year project after a September class reunion rekindled old friendships. "Everybody is a working professional and they are taking time off to help," Hren said. The list includes a member of the California Environmental Protection Agency, two University of California at Berkeley professors and a NASA computer trainer. Hren is a former bank marketing vice president. Her father was a representative in the national assembly in Taiwan and her mother was a teacher. Other recruits include Hren�s sister, Janice Chi, of Austin, Texas, who has performed with the Palm Beach and Miami opera companies. She will sing a simple song about a family embroidering shoes for a child�s new Chinese New Year outfit, as well as a difficult, well-known Chinese folk song about canaries, Hren said. Hren is even recruiting her neighbors, including Jacksonville art teacher Susan Whipple, who will display Chinese-influenced artwork created by fifth-graders at Grace Christian School. "This is an opportunity to add to our history and knowledge of the Chinese culture," said Darlene Turner of the Southern Oregon Historical Society, a co-sponsor of the event. Chinese New Year activities Jacksonville businesses will hang lanterns outside their doors beginning Wednesday as part of a Chinese New Year celebration that culminates with a day of activities Feb. 3. Merchants also are displaying red and gold couplets, or New Year wishes scripted in Chinese writing, on their door posts. The schedule for Feb. 3 includes: Multi-dynasty fashion show, ribbon dance and folk singing, 11:30 to 1:30 p.m. (first show) and 1:30 to 3 p.m. (second show), U.S. Hotel, 125 E. California. The Southern Oregon Historical Society is charging admission of $3 adults, $1 children ages 5-12. Ticket sales will be FridayJan. 26 to Feb. 3 at Scheffel�s Toys and the Jacksonville Barber Shop. Seating is limited. Parade, 4 p.m., down Main, Oregon, California and Fourth streets, featuring costumed dancers and a lion costume from San Francisco�s Chinatown. Historical talks about Chinese mining, by historian Larry Smith, 1:15 to 2:15 p.m., city fountain at Main Street and Memorial Park. Chinese food sales, 11:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., 150 W. California and 215 W. California, sponsored by MacLevin�s Whole Food, Colony Far East and Thai House. Reach reporter Melissa Martin at 776-4476, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.