Ni Hao. My Name Is Gillibrand, but Lu Will Do.

[lsanderson]

At a Chinatown Lunar New Year parade, Senator Kirsten E. Gillibrand’s Chinese name, Lu Tian Na, was on a sign hoisted by a boy.
By DAVID W. CHEN
Published: February 14, 2009

She had them at “Ni hao ma.”

Ms. Gillibrand with her classmates in Beijing in 1986. From left, Dana Beard, Eve Stacey, Ms. Gillibrand and Amy Smith.

When Senator Kirsten E. Gillibrand grabbed the microphone at the Lunar New Year parade in Chinatown two weeks ago, she blurted, “Ni hao ma, zenma yang?” in Mandarin, or “Hello, how’s it going?” Later that day, after wrapping up a meeting with local leaders at a senior center, she walked by a few card tables and said, “Hao bu hao?” or “Are you doing O.K.?” More