FRIDAY, February 12 marks the start of the Year of the Ox<\/a>, which will last until January 31, 2022. Traits of the ox include hard work and positivity<\/a>, which is something that organisers of South Wales\u2019s Chinese New Year celebrations have had to show during lockdown. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Shirley Au-Yeung, who is the chair and founder of the Chinese in Wales Association<\/a>, says that her organisation has faced challenges over the last year, but it is ready to put on a show for its community \u2013 albeit with a pre-recorded online display rather than a bustling celebration in Swansea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The association, which was founded in 2017 and emerged from another charity, the Swansea Chinese Community Co-op Centre, works to make a positive difference to the lives of ethnic Chinese people living in Wales. Since November 2019, it has been based at Swansea\u2019s Grand Theatre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Shirley, who is 40 and works as a business consultant alongside her commitments to the charity, said: \u201cEven though we are still in lockdown, we want to bring joy and resilience. Even though you are facing the storm, we adapt and learn how to dance in the rain, enjoy life and change your attitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe are part of the Welsh community and we want to contribute. We want to bring a taste of culture to others \u2013 that\u2019s the main aim.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The pandemic has thrown up unexpected challenges for the association, which they have had to overcome to organise its celebrations. One of its trustees, a university music teacher, has been stuck in Taiwan since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. Because of her job, she has been able to use her network to find talented students to produce performances to include in the association\u2019s display.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Other elements of the show include dance, tai chi, an orchestral performance and people playing musical instruments, including the piano and violin. The result is a video that will be published on the association\u2019s social media channels<\/a> at 11am on Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe don\u2019t have a fancy device to film everything and we don\u2019t have a professional filmmaker, but we just wanted to show the spirit to recipients, no matter how difficult it is and what challenges you are facing,\u201d said Shirley. \u201cWe are still smiling and just want to get this done.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even though this year\u2019s celebrations will be held online, Shirley is grateful that a Chinese New Year celebration will be able to take place at all. After the outbreak of Covid-19 last year, the association had to cancel its plans entirely to protect its members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The event, scheduled for February 2, 2020, was cancelled even before the UK had its first confirmed case of coronavirus. Because there was a possibility that someone might have travelled from Wuhan or come into contact with someone who had been there recently, Shirley decided not to put on their planned event at the Grand Theatre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Shirley said: \u201cOur events cannot take any risks. We have loads of Chinese community members come to our events to celebrate. Any of them might have come from China at the time. Swansea and Wuhan have a strong link as well, so we cancelled the event one week before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cA few days later, we had the first cases in the UK and Wales. I\u2019m glad that I didn\u2019t do it because you never know.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n