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Over 1,200 Attend First Chinese New Year Celebration
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 Chinese New Year Celebration |
College Station, Texas, February 23, 2007 – Over 1,200 students, faculty, staff, and their families participated in the Chinese New Year Celebration on February 20, 2007. This event was co-organized by the Institute for Pacific Asia (IPA), Dining Services, and the Chinese Students and Scholars Association (CSSA) and sponsored by Wells Fargo Bank. The evening started with a lion and dragon dance performance that spanned all the way from outside the Academic Building to Sbisa. Accompanied with loud drums and gongs, four lions and a dragon from Lee’s Golden Dragon out of Houston danced and performed acrobatics. Chinese tradition holds that the dance was a ceremony to rid evil spirits and summon good luck and prosperity for the year to come. |
The crowd then walked into the red and gold themed Sbisa Dining Hall to enjoy a wide selection of Chinese food and watched a Tibetan-style dance named “Kangding’s Love” performed by members of CSSA.
“This is a great opportunity to involve our university community in a celebration of Chinese culture, as well as a true international culinary experience,” said Dr. Emily Y. Ashworth, associate vice president of international programs. “I’m delighted to see different units across campus join forces to raise international awareness.”
“What better way to engage students, faculty and other members of the university community in learning about other cultures than to bring them together for a festive occasion involving lots of food and fun,” said Dr. Tito Guerrero, vice president and associate provost of diversity. “This event helped to exemplify how a commitment to learning about the culture and the traditions of others can be entertaining as well.”
This was the first event at Texas A&M University to celebrate the Chinese New Year, but plans were already underway for the next year as a result of the success of the event.
“We are planning to organize more cultural activities to raise international awareness on campus,” said Dr. Randy Kluver, director of the IPA. “The success of this event is a great encouragement for us.”
“Dining Services is very excited to see the overwhelming response from students, faculty and staff,” said Nadeem Siddiqui, executive director of Dining Services. “This is a beautiful beginning of a new tradition at A&M.”
“We were a bit cautious when planning the menu for this event, and did prepare some American food,” said Gary Arthur, senior executive chef and director of operations of Dining Services. “But looking at the receptive response tonight, we’ll go ahead and plan for an all-Chinese menu for the Year of the Rat.”
“As an international student, I’m very encouraged to see the effort the university put to cultivate cultural diversity on campus,” said Yan Zhang, president of CSSA. “CSSA is proud to be a part of this driving force.”
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