Gov. Rauner celebrates Lunar New Year

CHICAGO (WLS) -- In celebration of Lunar New Year on Saturday, some students from Naperville made a special trip downtown to give Governor Bruce Rauner's office a festive new look.

ABC7 was the only station invited behind the scenes at the Thompson Center with the governor on Friday afternoon.

It's the first time the governor's office is being transformed for Chinese New Year thanks to the Ray Chinese School in Naperville, the largest Chinese school in the Midwest.

"The younger kids are going to be singing and reciting a traditional Chinese poem," said 17-year-old Ashley Fu. "I'm going to be talking about the importance of Chinese new year, especially with the growing influence of Asian Americans in this country."

"Chinese New Year also is a peace, an encouragement, an affection, and a family union," said Renjie Fu, the principal of Ray Chinese School.

While there, Gov. Rauner was asked about this message to the immigrant community.

"We're all a nation of immigrants. America is welcoming to immigrants, and we enjoy our diversity. We all celebrate our heritage and our traditions, but we also celebrate what's great about America," said Rauner.

"Let's listen to each other. Let's find solutions together, respect each other's point of view, find common ground," said Rauner when asked about the current political climate.

The governor was born in the year of the rooster. People born during the year of the rooster are described as extremely strong willed, intelligent, loving debates, and ambitious but can be unrealistic in what they want to achieve.

"You know what, by working together, bipartisan. We're going to do good things for the people of Illinois," said Rauner, when asked if the description was fair.

The year of the rooster officially starts at midnight on January 28.