San Francisco Chronicle: Politics on parade for Chinese New Year fest [Excerpt]

By Rona Marech, Vanessa Hua, Chronicle Staff Writers

Saturday, February 19, 2005

Organizers of the Chinese New Year Parade typically try to keep politics out of the annual procession, but [...] one honoring the spiritual movement Falun Gong will be notably absent from today's parade celebrating the Year of the Rooster.

The Falun Gong group submitted a proposal for a float that would include people in traditional Chinese dress demonstrating the traditional Chinese breathing exercises known as qigong.

"We feel we are part of the Chinese community, and the Chinese government spent so much time spreading propaganda," said Huy Lu, 37, of Daly City. Since 1999, the Chinese government has cracked down on Falun Gong -- also known as Falun Dafa -- [a practice for both mind and body improvement] that emerged in 1992. But organizers rejected the group's application, saying the parade couldn't accommodate everyone who wanted to participate.[...]

The float will be a small part of the parade, which caps two weeks of festivities honoring the start of Chinese Lunar New Year 4703. This year's celebration will showcase about 25 floats. Elaborate corporate-sponsored floats can cost $12,000 to $20,000. The parade also will include marching bands, choruses, folk dancers and a group from China demonstrating a type of kung fu that dates back 1,500 years. A 201-foot-long "golden dragon" will bring up the caboose, as usual.

The parade, which drew an estimated 550,000 spectators last year, will follow the same route from Second and Market streets to Kearney Street and Columbus Avenue. The event runs from 5:30 to about 8 p.m. today. Viewing the parade The Chinese New Year Parade will begin at 5:30 p.m. today at Second and Market streets.

Street closures will begin at 5 p.m. Once the parade has passed and the route has been cleaned, streets will reopen. The parade will end at about 8 p. m.

During the parade, northbound traffic will be able to cross Market Street using Fremont Street to Front Street. Southbound traffic will be able to cross Market Street using the Battery Street to First Street connection, except when parade contingents are passing.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/02/19/BAGKDBE1NV1.DTL

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