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| Members of the Chinese Student and Scholar Association put on performances and played games to entertain guests and celebrate the Chinese New Year. |
photo & caption/ alexander crook/Foghorn
Chinese Students Ring in Year of the Tiger
Posted on 25 February 2010By Staff Writer: Nyki Duda
Dozens of USF students and staff filled Fromm Hall’s Xavier Chapel to celebrate the start of the Chinese Lunar New Year on Friday, Feb. 19. The festival was organized by the Chinese Student and Scholar Association to welcome the Year of the Tiger. The lunar year officially began on Feb. 14, but the Chinese Association’s festival fell on the sixth day of the 15-day celebration, the Lantern Festival.
Visitors were greeted by a red, festive atmosphere and an evening packed with performances honoring Chinese history and culture. The program included everything from traditional music and dance to a modern take on a legend acted out by members of the Chinese Association. The audience was regaled with stories of the history of Chinese New Year in Mandarin, Cantonese and English .
“The beginning of the Chinese New Year started with the fight against the beast Nien,” the emcee boomed to the crowd. According to legend, she continued, Nien would arrive to pillage and destroy villages, killing children and wrecking crops and livestock. After the monster had its fill, it would leave only to return at the start of the next lunar year.
One year, some villagers witnessed Nien fleeing a child dressed in red. From the tale, wearing or decorating in red and lighting firecrackers became synonymous with Lunar New Year celebrations in an effort to keep the monster away.
Though New Year traditions vary regionally, emphasis is placed on togetherness. The sharing of food, usually dumplings or rice cakes, and gift giving are both common practices throughout the Chinese community.
The Chinese Association’s festival was no different, treating guests to a Chinese dinner and asking guests to sport name tags to promote conversation. They served their purpose. A low murmur of chatter punctuated the presentation and camera flashes bounced off of the bright walls of the room as students photographed their friends on stage.
Yue Song, the President of the Chinese Students and Scholars Association, was pleased with the vibrant atmosphere of the festival after logging hours of work in the run-up to the celebration.
“We’ve spent a lot of time preparing. Last week, most of the performers were only getting five hours of sleep a night,” he said. “The celebration for the Chinese New Year is for China what Christmas is for the Western cultures [and] is the most important holiday for Chinese people,” Song reiterated.
Song was also impressed by the high level of attendance, joking that most friends “came for the Chinese food.” The exhausted organizer chuckled as he watched attendees wander from Xavier Chapel into the foyer, retiring to the floor with plates buckling under the weight of dumplings and rice.
The majority of attendees were Chinese students, evidence of the influx of Chinese international students at USF. According to Song, Chinese students make up the largest chunk of the university’s pool of international students with roughly 250.
For Song and the Chinese Association, the support of their community by USF, a university renowned for its diversity, was important to the success of the festival, the second of its kind in the past three years. Just as important was the presence of the university’s president, Father Stephen Privett.
“USF has a large Chinese population, and it’s important to show them how much we appreciate them and how valued their culture is,” Privett said.
Song stressed that the event was not just for the Chinese community, pointing out the elements of other cultures in the festival and its modern undertones. Beyond the more traditional aspects, the program featured an appearance by the USF Hawaiian ensemble, a classical piano performance, and a jazz dance choreographed to the Black Eyed Peas’ “I Gotta Feeling.”
Senior Lina Calderón-Morin seconded this sentiment, arguing that this recognition of Chinese culture was tantamount to the appreciation of difference as a whole.
“I love Chinese New Year because it’s a celebration of life not just for the Chinese community, but a time when we can share and enjoy the rich diversity of our city and university,” Calderón-Morin said.
The event was co-sponsored by the Center for the Pacific Rim, International Relations and the Chinese program.
Original story published in the USF Foghorn.
