Sixteen hours and 6,000 miles couldn’t separate Spokane’s small but connected Chinese community from the New Year’s party celebrated by more than 1 billion people across the Pacific.

Performers, artists, teachers and families assembled Saturday at Spokane Falls Community College to celebrate the holiday and their culture at the sixth annual event organized by the Spokane Chinese Association.

“America is very international,” said Weihua Liu, after talking with attendees at a table filled with intricately cut paper designs.

When her career in genetic research brought her to the United States and eventually to Sacred Heart Medical Center, one difference she noticed in American cities was how many more ethnic groups she could see in one place on any given day.

Chinese communities often stand out this time of year for their colorful celebrations of the New Year based on a centuries-old lunar calendar.

Today is the official start of the Chinese year 4705 – the year of the pig. The pig is the last animal in the Chinese Zodiac. The year of the pig occurs only once every 60 years and is said to bring extra luck to children born in it.

People celebrate the New Year in a way Weihua likens to how many Americans celebrate Christmas. Family members and friends come together to celebrate, and most take the week off.

“This is a celebration of our own culture,” said Li Jun Li, who came to Spokane to study international management at Whitworth College and now works for an accounting firm.

Earlier she tried calling her parents in Beijing and couldn’t get through, possibly because so many people were calling home for the holiday.

Since coming here, she’s been able to visit them about once every year. “We have no families, no relatives” in Spokane, she said, and families in the Chinese Association often help students manage the distance.

While individualism defines much of American culture, much of Chinese culture focuses on collaboration. “They have a collective sense of helping each other,” said association President Ping Ping, who teaches sociology at area colleges.

The organization formed in 2001 after a group of Chinese performers was involved in a bus accident. An informal network of Spokane families heard of their misfortune and raised money to help the performers get home. They’ve since organized a number of social and cultural events throughout the year and continue to raise money for children in China.

The New Year’s celebration and other events also exist to teach Spokane more about Chinese culture.

About half of the students attending a small Chinese language school founded by the association speak English as their first language.

With the meaning of Chinese words relying heavily on pronouncing various tones a specific way and a written language with thousands of characters, that can be tough to do.

“It feels like you’re learning two foreign languages at the same time,” said Xiaoling Cheng, whose students performed during a talent show at Saturday’s event.

She received a master’s degree at Gonzaga after teaching in China and has taught college students here for 17 years. She said she also explains to them the difference between the two cultures when it comes to the way people interact. For example, she said, it’s routine in China to ask people you’ve just met how old they are because age is accorded respect.

The association estimates there are about 1,200 Chinese living in Spokane. Another 200 to 300 families here have adopted children from China.