Chinese New Year focuses on family

Within five minutes of the doors’ opening, the line of guests snaked through the auditorium entrance and wound into the lobby. They stood with family and friends, snapping pictures in front of Chinese lanterns and other New Year’s decorations as they waited in line for dinner from Chow Bar.

“Here, it’s become about eating,” said Lei Chen, a graduate student who came to IU from China in August 2007. “But in China the family reunion is more important – there’s more focus on family.”

The Chinese New Year Celebration, sponsored by the Chinese Student and Scholar Association, was held Saturday at the IU Auditorium. It included food from Chow Bar along with two and a half hours of performances to celebrate the start of the Year of the Ox and a look back at last year’s events.

Chen and fellow graduate student Aaron Lu attended the celebration last year and said they returned for the food and the opportunity to meet others who share their culture.

As guests reached the buffet line, servers wished them a happy new year and loaded their plates with food.

“It keeps the culture going,” said Xiaoshi Wei. “It’s a social event for creating an identity.”

Wei, a graduate student, performed jazz-style Chinese songs during the program.

He added his songs were urban Chinese and jazz folk, similar to Norah Jones. Wei said he asked to perform at the celebration and it was a way to practice his native language by singing in Chinese.

Along with Wei’s songs, the celebration had 14 other performances, including more songs, skits, dances and even a poem to look back on 2008, all performed in Chinese.

Although most of the performers were IU students, children from a local Chinese-language school welcomed the crowd and sang songs, including “If You’re Happy and You Know It,” in Chinese.

Association president Yan Jin told the crowd she hoped the celebration provided a window to China during this important holiday.

She added that the association devoted all of its enthusiasm and efforts into the event for three months to plan the celebration.

Opening the performances was a video of Chinese students from the different IU departments wishing everyone a happy new year. The members of the crowd cheered as their school appeared on the screen.

During the performances, Jin thanked everyone for coming.

“All of our effort has paid off when we see so many faces here,” she said.

To represent the Year of the Ox, a new-style cow joined the traditional Chinese lion onstage to dance and welcome the new year.

According to the Chinese calendar, 2009 is the Year of the Ox. Within the calendar, 12 animals rotate to represent each year.

For Lu, 2009 is an important and lucky time because he was born during a Year of the Ox. He said people have the traits of the animal from the year they were born and the ox is seen as diligent and hardworking.

After planning the celebration and performing in several programs, association members closed the performances together by singing “Da Zhong Guo,” a famous Chinese song that translates to “Our Big Family,” as the crowd clapped and sang along.

After the song, emcee Jake Zhang called out to the crowd to remember that New Year celebrations last 15 days and to keep the tradition going and celebrate 2009.