Students celebrate Chinese New Year

Freshman Qi An rolled out a slab of dough, cutting it into small, round pieces.

Holding the dough in her palm, she filled it with a pork and cabbage mixture and folded the edges into a crescent-shaped dumpling.
  
This is her first time cooking dumplings on her own, without her family in China.
In celebration of Spring Festival, the Chinese New Year, An and nine of her friends gathered in a Mason Hall apartment Saturday night. Cooking dumplings is tradition during Spring Festival, which is considered the most important holiday in China.

The students spent more than four hours preparing the dumplings and sharing memories of their Spring Festival experiences back at home.

In China, it is a day meant to be spent with the family. For the freshmen in the group, this was their first time celebrating the holiday outside of China, away from their family and old friends.

The New Year, the year of the snake, officially began in China at 11 a.m. Eastern time Saturday morning, because of to the time difference. Like many Chinese students, An woke up at 7 a.m. to Skype her family in China. 

During the video call, her parents began to cry, An said.

“As the days approach spring festival, they miss us much more than before,” An said.

An and her friends said they also woke up early in order to watch a traditional four-and-a-half-hour-long television special that is broadcast across China on New Year’s Eve.

From 8 p.m. to almost 1 a.m., every family in China will sit down to watch the Spring Festival gala, which includes performances from pop stars in China and worldwide.

Many Chinese students wore the color red in celebration of the holiday. Freshman Pengyu Chen wore a red traditional costume to the party Saturday night.

Chen said it was a quiet New Year’s in Bloomington, a stark contrast from the massive crowds and festive decorations in China.

Out of all Spring Festival traditions, An said she misses the fireworks the most.
“In the morning we would wake up, and the whole ground would be red because of the fireworks,” she said.

An said she misses going shopping for new clothes with her family in honor of the start of a new year.

On this day back at home, Chinese students would also be given cash gifts wrapped in red envelopes, a luxury An and her friends have missed this year, she said.  

Chen said even though he misses spending the day with family, he was glad to be able to celebrate with friends and food.

Last weekend, the Chinese Student and Scholar Association hosted a large early New Year’s celebration with free food and a live comedy performance.

While some Chinese students cooked meals with friends on Friday and Saturday, others decided to go out to eat in celebration. Many local Chinese restaurants set up decorations and offer special deals and entrées the week of Spring Festival.

Chow Bar, a restaurant on South Indiana Avenue, provided a special New Year’s buffet with many Spring Festival foods, such as a traditional fish entrée.

Junior Da An, one of the students at the apartment party Saturday, said fish is a symbolic meal eaten on New Year’s. The Chinese word for fish is pronounced the same as the word for profit.

“It’s a symbol for money,” An said. “You will have money left over if you eat fish.”

Freshman Chen Shi had lunch with her friends at Lucky Express Saturday afternoon. She said she and her friends were too tired to cook, after having stayed up all night for video calls with friends and family in China.

“In China, wherever you are, on this day you must come back home and stay with family,” Shi said. “We cannot go back, so it is necessary to stay with Chinese and find that feeling of family.”