Feature: Monkeys bring Chinese New Year festivity to Chicago

CHICAGO, Feb. 8 (Xinhua) -- Chicago is filled with joy and festivity as it celebrates China's Lunar New Year, with lots of decoration and activities featuring monkey in the city, which aims to boost its attraction to Chinese visitors.

Entering China's Year of Monkey, it is easy to find images of monkey in Chicago, the third largest U.S. city that Mayor Rahm Emanuel aims to make as the top destination in the U.S. for Chinese New Year celebrations.

No one can find more monkeys elsewhere than in Bloomingdale's on the Magnificent Mile, where tens of paper-cut monkeys hang high along the top-end store's major aisles, and porcelain monkeys either wear a sunglass or carry a bag to greet customers.

Bloomingdale's is not the only shopping mall that has monkey as decoration. Macy's, a U.S. chain retailer, granted a prized window for the Chinese Ministry of Culture to install a red face of "Monkey King" in Beijing opera. Passers-by are fascinated by the monkey who keeps winking at them.

The retailers certainly do not stop at having monkeys as decoration. Bloomingdale's is giving out Chinese New Year red envelopes and KatCheung Monkey bags to customers. Customers are also getting coupons with face values of 8, 88 and 888 dollars, as "eight" sounds like enrichment in Cantonese Chinese.

The Art Institute of Chicago Monday has kicked off its 2016 Chinese New Year celebration with the theme of "Monkeying Around."

Monday takes the 9th place on the Chinese zodiac circle of 12 animals.

The museum is offering Chinese language tour guide books, standard Chinese Audio Guide and Chinese food at its cafe during the holiday season.

Among over a million visitors each year, more than 100,000 are Chinese. "Chinese visitors to the museum increased about 30 percent last year," Nora Gainer, director of Tourism Marketing, told Xinhua. "We'd like to welcome more of them to our museum."

Major landmark buildings in Chicago, including Willis Tower, John Hancock Center and CME Group Building, have been decorated with red lights, an embodiment of prosperity and happiness in China.

This is the third year for Chicago to gear up for Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations. In the past three years, the City Government of Chicago has launched various events during China's spring festival, with a view to attracting more Chinese tourists.

"Tourism is a vital and essential part of Chicago's economic strategy," Melissa Cherry, vice president of Marketing and Cultural Tourism of Choose Chicago, told Xinhua.

"When they come, they enjoy a lot of our great city assets, including our cultural institutions, shopping, dining, all of which bring dollars into the city in term of spending, which then helps support jobs and continue to brew events like this," said Cherry.

She told Xinhua that Chicago aims to attract 55 million visitors by 2020, "Chinese visitation is a critical component to our growth strategy."

Statistics from Choose Chicago show that the number of Chinese tourists that visited Chicago in 2014 reached 133,000.

Compared to visitors from other countries, Chinese tourists stay longer and spend more. On average, Chinese travelers to Chicago spend more than 4,435 dollars per travel party per trip.

Chinese Consul General in Chicago Zhao Weiping regards Chicago's celebration of the Chinese New Year as, to a large extent, a reflection of rapid growth of economic, trade and cultural exchange and cooperation between the two countries.

"Chinese elements are everywhere in Chicago, and investment from China in Chicago has increased rapidly in recent years," said Zhao, "Chicago is optimistic of development prospects of the Chinese economy and is confident of the bilateral economic and trade cooperation."

Chicago's commitment to cultural exchange does not stop at Chinese New Year celebrations, Cherry told Xinhua.

"We will continue to collaborate and share China's wonders at some of Chicago's leading cultural events in 2016 like the World Music Festival and EXPO Chicago," said Cherry.