 "Photo: Sam Grenadier")
Although 2010 began 39 days ago, the Year of the Tiger won’t start until Feb. 14.
The Chinese Lunar New Year is one of the biggest holidays of the year for the Chinese, and Tech’s Chinese population and organizations were prepared to celebrate Saturday night at an event sponsored by the Chinese Student Association in the International Culture Center that featured food, performances and traditional Chinese activities.
Doors opened at 5:30 p.m., and by the time the event started, the building was filled with the expected 200 people, said Christi Felton, the event coordinator for the International Cultural Center.
The festivities began with a welcoming in both English and Chinese and then a traditional Chinese “paper cutting” for good luck, said Yuan-Ta Hsu, a graduate student in the fine arts department. Each attendee was given a packet with information on the Chinese New Year that included a sheet of red paper with a stencil to cut out a lucky symbol and a “dollar” for the lottery at the end of the night, Hsu said.
Shannon Marchese, the president of the Chinese Language Association, was among those excited for the meal provided at the event.
“The food is going to be really spicy and authentic,” Marchese said.
The buffet-style line featured chicken, which Hsu said was lucky for a good family, and fish for wealth. The menu also included broccoli with oyster sauce, jalapeño-salted shrimp, fried rice and much more.
Marchese and the CLA were at the event to help with fundraising with a silent auction, she said, and all profits went toward Haiti relief.
The CLA also performed skits, as part of the performance lineup — one in Chinese and one in English.
The goal of the CLA is to promote Chinese culture at Tech, Marchese said, and worked to “get rid of cultural boundaries — you don’t have to be Chinese to be here.”
That goal seemed to be attained. Felton said the event, which has been a tradition for years, draws a lot of the Lubbock community every year, not just the Chinese or Asian students that most people would expect, although it does appeal specifically to international students.
Everything done was to inform and entertain the audience. Marchese said she hoped the skits would make the event more relatable to people who might not know what’s going on.
She said as China became more prominent, it was important for people to be able to relate. She encourages anyone interested to join the CLA.
“People think Chinese is hard,” Marchese said, “but it’s not that scary.”
The CLA was invited by the CSA, which hosted many other Asian student groups at Saturday’s celebration, said Angela Liao, a Chinese professor who is involved with the Chinese Student Association.
“It’s cross-cultural,” Hsu said, “with everything about the countries, so people will know the difference between Thai and Taiwan.”
The performances represented places including Taiwan, Hong Kong and even Uzbekistan. The entertainment featured skits, singing and a martial arts demonstration.
Having more groups involved brought more people, and the line for entry went out the door more than once. People came to see what it was all about and to support friends who were involved.
“The secretary of the Taiwanese Association of Students personally told me I couldn’t miss it,” said Pablo Dominguez, a teaching assistant.
Dominguez had Taiwanese friends at the event, and said he was looking forward to spending the rest of the week with them.
There will be almost a month of events related to the Lunar New Year; Saturday night was just the opening ceremony.
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