Miami Celebrates Chinese New Year

By Laura Fitzgerald

Miami University journalism student

Red paper lanterns, symbolizing good luck and prosperity, hung from the balcony while red banners with calligraphy hung over the doors.

Community members, Chinese students, and domestic students packed into Hall Auditorium on Miami University's campus Saturday night to celebrate the Chinese New Year.

The Confucius Institute, the Performing Art Series, and Miami’s Chinese American Culture Association (CACA) organized the Chinese New Year Gala.

Based off the Chinese lunar calendar, the new year started on Jan. 28. Each year has a different animal associated with it in a 12-year cycle. This year is the year of the rooster, which symbolizes bravery, wisdom, and faith.

A Celebration Mood

Chen Zhao, director of the Confucius Institute at Miami, says the New Year celebration is a time for students to take a break from their studies and celebrate with the wider community.

“I think the Chinese New Year time is a celebration,” Zhao says. “People are in a celebration mood. So just have fun."

Yu Kuizhi and Li Shengshu from the China National Peking Opera Company sang traditional Chinese opera songs and taught the audience about the roles and themes of Peking opera. Kuizhi is the vice president and artistic director of the opera, one of the most prestigious companies in China.

“The special part of this is the opera. The two opera singers are the best of the best,” Zhao says.

Kuizhi says he wants audience members to learn a little more about what opera is. Tradition is the base of opera, he says, with many plays relaying traditional Chinese values, but young people have to be interested too.

The Miami Dyzzeestepperz, a street dance club, showed their moves on stage. Miami’s traditional Chinese music ensemble played on Chinese instruments, and the Lion Dance club performed in colorful red and yellow dragon costumes.

The night also featured traditional Chinese dance and a calligraphy demonstration, and YouTube artist Tiffany Alvord performed.

A Slice of Home

Miami University senior Yiyi Yang, co-president of CACA, says the gala brings a slice of home to Chinese students that are far from it.

Yang also says the gala is a way to share Chinese culture with domestic students and community members and helps mix cultures and people together.

"We want to feel a part of Miami. We want to feel a part of this culture," Yang says.

The CACA started planning the gala as soon as the one last year ended, pulling together acts from China, the U.S., and Miami. The show mirrored the Chunwan gala, a variety television show that airs on New Years Eve in China, one of the most-watched television events in the world.

Spring Festival

Junior Kuncheny Wany says Chinese New Year, or "Spring Festival," is the most important holiday of the year in China.

Wany says, when he's home, he gathers with his extended family to share a big meal together, all the cousins at one table. The holiday is the largest annual mass migration of people on the planet, as families gather together to celebrate.

Celebrations run from the first day of the new year to the Lantern Festival on the 15th day. While traditions vary widely across different regions, some include hanging red lanterns, making dumplings, lighting fireworks, participating in traditional Chinese dance, and gathering with family.

In China, Wany celebrated with fireworks and red clothes. The celebrations at Miami are less intense, but he celebrates nonetheless. He cooked dumplings and fish with his roommates for the holiday and snapped pictures at the gala.

"I miss home but we celebrate with other students,” Wany says.

Shengsu and Kuizhi perform at about 35-40 universities per year, spreading the culture and practice of Chinese Peking opera. -- Photo by Laura Fitzgerald