The Year of the Rat: Asian student associations usher in the Chinese New Year with a bang

A wave of Chinese New Year celebrations swept through IU this past weekend.\nThe events kicked off Friday with celebrations organized by the Taiwan and Hong Kong student associations held at the Leo Dowling International Center and Woodbridge Clubhouse, respectively, and ended on a high note with a large celebration Sunday night at the IU Auditorium.\n“Our expectations are really simple — we just want to give people a chance to celebrate Chinese New Year (and) promote Chinese culture,” said Si Qin, president of the IU Chinese Scholars Student Association. “There is a sizable Chinese population in Bloomington, and so we want to bring (these) people together.”\nThe IU auditorium saw more than 800 people come out to celebrate the 2008 Chinese Year of the Rat. Food was served from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m., followed by performances such as “Tongue Twister for Kids,” “Hawaii Dance” and a multicultural show featuring students from Hong Kong, Taiwan and China performing in their dialects.\nAt the International Center, guests were treated to familiar food, games and traditional rituals. David Huang, vice president of the Taiwan Student Association, said the purpose of the celebration was to give students a sense of home during this festive season.\n“We want to give our peers a similar experience as that of home during Chinese New Year,” Haung said. “Especially so, because we are so far away from home. “\nHuang said his committee tried to capture the spirit of home by introducing common elements of Chinese New Year from Taiwan. \n“We played popular a board game, Mahjong, ate Tangyuan (dessert), Niangao (rice cake) and distributed red packets during our lucky draw to keep in tradition with the Chinese New Year,” he said.\nOutside campus, the Monroe County Public Library hosted the Asian Culture Center’s Lunar New Year celebration Saturday. Various international student associations entertained guests with cultural performances. \nVisitors to the public library were greeted with a surprise Lunar New Year welcome. Set up at the ground floor of the library was a Chinese calligraphy booth. Visitors were able to dabble in the art of writing Chinese characters. \n“My friend from Taiwan was helping with the Chinese characters,” said Krystal Pittman, a student at Tri-North Middle School, who managed to write “good best friends” in Mandarin. \nThe Pittman family chanced upon the festivities while visiting the library that day. The family stayed on to watch the performances at the suggestion of a Taiwanese family friend who accompanied them.\n“All the different cultures were really interesting; the styles and the music,” said Tamela Pittman, Krystal’s mother, who brought her three daughters to library. “Evidently, we were here at the library and we decided to stay to experience this special celebration.” \nPerformances started at 2 p.m. in the library auditorium and featured various cultural performances including lion dances, Tai Chi performance and a Korean violin piece. \nIU alumnus Ariane Lestari, who performed at the library auditorium, said her group performed “Yue Liang Dai Biao Wo De Xin” using the traditional Indonesian musical instrument, the Angklung.\n“The Angklung is a musical instrument made from bamboo,” Lestari said. “Most people haven’t seen such an instrument before so they seem to find it interesting seeing us perform.”