We've got our eye on the tiger at Tauranga Historic Village this year thanks to the Chinese assigning 12 animals on a 12-year cycle, making 2022 the Year of the Tiger.

A stunning array of banners will be on display at Tauranga Historic Village this weekend, giving the public an exciting and colourful glimpse into traditional Chinese folk art and symbolising how 2022, the Year of the Tiger, is a year when great evil can be driven out.

Those born during a Tiger Year are said to possess some of the qualities of the animal itself, including courageous, assertive and natural leaders. Notable celebrities born in a Tiger Year include Queen Elizabeth 2, Lady Gaga and Leonardo DiCaprio.

The tiger embodies courage and bravery, with the Year of the Tiger symbolising resilience and strength – even in times of struggle.

Refreshing change

For those who celebrate Lunar New Year, the occasion marks a pivot towards refreshingly good change. While the world has experienced several difficult pandemic years, Chinese mythology dictates that the Year of the Tiger offers hope amid the challenges, with the pandemic being regarded as the evil to be driven out.

Showcasing Chinese culture through art is helping strengthen local connections and understanding between the Tauranga Chinese community and the wider Tauranga population.

As coordinators of the art project, NZ China Friendship Society Tauranga president Tina Zhang and event co-organiser Lin Ma are managing a range of initiatives relating to the two-day pop-up exhibition in the Village Hall.

'We are celebrating 2022 being the Year of the Tiger in the Chinese calendar by holding an exhibition called ‘One Hundred Tigers',” says Tina.

Modern Chinese artist

The exhibition, on November 26-27, will showcase the work of Chinese artist Lu Zhang who spent her Covid-19 isolation period in 2020 drawing 100 tigers to celebrate the Year of the Tiger.

'She put many Chinese traditional folk craft techniques into their own ‘hundreds of tiger project' series of works, expressing her free mind though creativity,” says Tina. 'Making the pictures full of cheerful works and presenting a strong rural, traditional art.”

Tina says Lu Zhang is a Chinese modern young artist who graduated from Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts and is now working in the Visual Communication Design Department of Easton Academy of Fine Arts in Zhengzhou - University of Light Industry.

'Her work ‘Hundred Tigers Project' retains the unique spirit and aesthetic value of Chinese culture while presenting the characteristics of modernism, which is popular in China.”

Admission to the ‘One Hundred Tigers' exhibition is free, from 10am-4pm on this weekend, November 26-27 at the Village Hall, Tauranga Historic Village.