Celebrating the Chinese New Year in America
The performers for the Chinese New Year celebration pause for a quick photo before they begin. Photo By: Xinyi He
By Xinyi He// Staff Writer
On Friday, Jan. 27, The Global Student Association teamed up with Campus Activities Team and Campus Hospitality to celebrate the Chinese New Year at High Point University for the first time ever. As a Chinese student, I thought it was a very great event. The Global Student Association willingly hosted this very special event for us. It was not a traditional way of celebrating but it was something different and I very much enjoyed it.
I have not been able to celebrate the Chinese New Year in seven years. This truly made me even more homesick after not getting to experience it. The event that HPU put on for us really made me feel like I was at home even if it was thousands of miles away. While I was there, I noticed that many students stopped and watched the lion dance all throughout the Slane Student Center. I thought this was neat because the Chinese New Year is all about gathering people together, and on that day, it most definitely happened.
Various events were hosted throughout campus and many caught faculty and student’s eyes. Around noon on Friday, students in the Slane Student Center were entertained by the lion dance. There were drums being played as the lion danced around as well. A student was also handing out red envelopes with medal coins inside as part of the Chinese traditions. It started around Chick-Fil-A and Subway and then proceeded to the Café. The performers really did an amazing job with making it feel like I was at home.
Many students did not know what the day was or what it was about. Volunteers were very open to explaining to anyone who asked what was going on and from what I could tell, they were very happy to learn more about the day. Some students actually came up to me and said “Happy New Year” to me in Chinese. This event was very special for me because of this. It made my day because they might not be able to speak much Chinese but still tried their best to celebrate with me.
A Global Student Association club member, Danielle Ohemeng, expressed her gratitude towards the GSA for putting on this event.
“In my final year at HPU, the event was definitely one of the highlights that I will never forget,” Ohemeng said, “A majority of our international population comes from China, so it was not only exciting for me, but also for them. It is not easy for them to celebrate so far from home, so it was nice we could provide something for them.”
Bingjie Qi, a student from Chongqing, China commented on the events, “It is impressive to see that Chinese traditional culture being performed at HPU. It was a great experience.”
All the events made me miss being home a little more, but I was happy to celebrate this day with the people that care about me. I do hope HPU clubs will continue to put on events like these in the future. I believe these events help to inform us on all different kinds of culture that are being represented on campus by students who are currently enrolled. HPU has a great amount of international students and I believe events like these really bring us together as a family.