CHINESE NEW YEAR RINGS IN YEAR OF OX.

Byline: Jean H. Lee Associated Press 

Most of the year, Uland Wong is a typical teen-ager. But this month, the Oakland 16-year-old has an unusual responsibility: warding off evil spirits.

He's among a troupe of San Francisco Bay Area teen-agers who trade their jeans for sequins and satin to perform the traditional Chinese lion dance.

``The reason why we do it is to scare away the bad spirits and bring good luck to our friends and family,'' he says. ``It's always done at the Chinese New Year.''

For millions throughout Asia, Feb. 7 marks the start of the first day of the year 4695, the Year of the Ox by the lunar calendar. For thousands of Asian-Americans in the San Francisco Bay Area, lunar New Year is a chance to honor - and learn - the traditions that accompany Asia's biggest holiday of the year.

Public school students in San Francisco, where one in three residents is Asian, get the day off. The parents of hundreds of others throughout California keep their children home anyway to make sure they ring in the new year with luck.

For Chinese-Americans, lunar New Year means dozens of lei see, the red envelopes containing money; big family dinners; and two weeks of festivities that culminate in the grand Chinatown parade Feb. 22.

For Vietnamese-Americans, it's Tet, a time to set off firecrackers, light incense in honor of one's forebears, eat sweet rice cakes stuffed with beans and pork, and exchange gifts of dried fruits and teas.

And for some Korean-Americans, it's a day to honor ancestors, bow to elders for New Year's money and eat rice cake soup.

Throughout San Francisco's bustling Chinatown, strings of red firecrackers, red lanterns and red-and-gold banners wishing an array of good blessings hang in storefront shops and restaurants.

Farther west, at the playground behind Spring Valley School, a group of boys and girls chases after the lucky student holding the lion's head. They've just learned a few basic steps to the lion dance and practice the moves in pairs.

Teaching these students about Chinese New Year shows how far the city has come in recognizing its Asian-American culture, says third-grade teacher Helen Wong-Lew.

In 1884, the parents of a girl named Mamie Tate sued the school for refusing to admit Chinese-American students. She and others eventually won the right to attend Spring Valley, and today, nearly half its students are Chinese-American.

While teaching their students how to cook Chinese dumplings and to make paper lanterns, the teachers also give them a primer on their city's past.

``We try not to focus just on the firecrackers and the red envelopes,'' says Wong-Lew, who teaches a bilingual Chinese-English class. ``I talk about Chinese-American history, about immigration, the railroads and the Gold Rush time. We want to give them a little more than just the food and festivals.''

Angela Lui's family celebrates the holiday traditionally, cleaning the house from corner to corner, putting on new clothes and holding a big family reunion.

``We exchange envelopes and do all the superstitious stuff,'' the Oakland 15-year-old says. ``We hide all the knives, and you can't shower for a month.''

But unlike her parents, who are from China, Angela doesn't believe in the superstitions.

``When you're brought up here, it doesn't really matter,'' she says. ``It's just a celebration, an Asian celebration of my Asian heritage.''

She and about 20 others meet weekly in Oakland's Chinatown to learn the lion dance, the most popular of China's New Year's traditions.

Not all the dancers are Chinese-Americans. Some are Vietnamese, Cambodian-, Filipino-, Laotian-, Japanese- and African-American.

Tutram Nguyen, whose family is among the 50,000 Vietnamese-Americans who celebrate the holiday at the region's largest Tet festival in San Jose, sees the Chinese lion dance as a part of her heritage, even though she isn't Chinese.

``It's Asian-American,'' says Greg Sakakura, a Japanese-American 16-year-old from Walnut Creek. ``And I figure it's something to do away from my hometown. There's not much culture out there for different races.''

Lung Louie, 16, says it took him nearly six months to learn the proper martial arts techniques used in the dance - bowing left with the lion to pay respect to ancestors, right to pay respects to the gods on Earth and in the middle to honor the gods of the heavens.

Working in pairs, one holding the 50-pound red-and-black head aloft and another maneuvering the tail, they toss the audience oranges that stand for gold and tear up heads of lettuce symbolizing money.

``We spread it around to share our wealth,'' Lung says.

Today, they'll be visiting dozens of stores and restaurants in Oakland's Chinatown to offer lettuce and new year's scrolls and to collect the lei see store owners must offer for a lucky new year.

``I love it,'' says Tutram, 14. ``I feel like I'm going back to my roots and I'm respecting my culture.''