East meets West today to ring in the Chinese New Year.

Year 4706, the Year of the Rat, actually began yesterday in China but arrives today in the United States because of the time difference.

Wing Chan, of Ross, whose parents own the Ruby Chinese Restaurant in Pleasant Hills, recalled some of the ways her family celebrated the New Year when she was a child.

She remembered visiting relatives in Hong Kong on New Year's Day and receiving red envelopes containing money from married couples. Her parents also gave her money, she said.

The traditional red envelope containing a gift of money is thought to be symbolic of the promise of good fortune. During Chinese New Year, married couples traditionally give the envelopes to unmarried people.

The Year of the Rat recurs every 12th year as one of 12 animals in the Chinese Calendar. The cycle of the animals in order is rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog, pig.

At her parents' restaurant, pigs feet with mushrooms and steamed chicken will be served today in celebration.

Chinese restaurants throughout the northern suburbs also are serving special dishes to mark the new year.

This past weekend, students from the Oriental Star Dance School in Downtown Pittsburgh performed shows in Oakland to commemorate the New Year.

Yanlai Wu founded the school in 2004 to keep Chinese dances alive.

Teaching dance is a way to promote Asian culture, she said.

As she does every New Year, Ms. Wu, of Mt. Lebanon, plans to call family members in China, dine on Chinese-style dumplings filled with pork and wear a traditional red dress, called a chi-pao, for luck.

This school year marks the first time that Chinese language classes are being offered in the nine north suburban school districts served by A.W. Beattie Career Center in McCandless.

Beattie also offers the class at Upper St. Clair High School through a videoconference connection.

Tyler Lehman, 18, a senior at Upper St. Clair, studied Chinese last year as an independent study. He will study the language again in a class to be taught by Xiaofang Ouyang, who arrived Jan. 4 from China.

"Chinese is one of the languages considered a critical language right now because of business, security, and its population of more than a billion people. The entire Pacific rim is important,'' said Deanna Baird, foreign language curriculum leader.

Tyler, who plans to major in East Asian studies in college, said his favorite part is drawing the intricate characters of the written language.

"It's fun and difficult at the same time,'' he said.