Story By: Ali Fowler<\/p>\n
Photos By:\u00a0Ashley Resler<\/p>\n
The Spring Festival, or Chinese New Year, is China\u2019s most extravagant tradition and has been celebrated for over 4,000 years.<\/p>\n
On February 8, Missouri Western students and community members welcomed the Year of the Monkey and participated in this ancient tradition hosted by Dr. Yiming Liu, instructor of Chinese.<\/p>\n
The celebration consisted of presentations and musical performances. Dr. Liu began the event by explaining the significance of the holiday in the Chinese culture. She explained that the Spring Festival is a time for families to spend time together, share a grand feast and welcome the new year.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is like your Christmas,\u201d Dr. Liu said. \u201cPeople celebrate this new year to welcome the good luck and prosperity.\u201d<\/p>\n
The presentation continued with performances by students and community members. Guests heard poetry, songs played on traditional Chinese instruments such as the guzheng, Chinese flute, and the erhu or Chinese violin and watched a traditional Chinese fan dance.<\/p>\n
One student, Fred Weese, played two songs on the guzheng, an ancient Chinese stringed instrument. Weese, who lived in China for a year through Missouri Western\u2019s study abroad program, said he chose to learn to play the guzheng because he wanted to truly experience the Chinese culture.<\/p>\n
\u201cI decided if you\u2019re going to learn the Chinese culture, music is part of the culture,\u201d Weese said.<\/p>\n
Businesses such as Hunan Chinese Restaurant and Simply Tea sponsored the event, providing traditional Chinese food and tea for guests to taste such as rice, dumplings and nian gao, or Chinese New Year cake.<\/p>\n
Emily Howell, currently in her third semester studying Chinese, enjoyed the events because she was able to experience the Chinese culture.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think when you\u2019re learning a language, you forget that there\u2019s a whole culture as well,\u201d Howell said. \u201cNow, I can be more aware of the culture.\u201d<\/p>\n
To conclude the event, Dr. Liu taught everyone the phrase \u201cXin nian kuai le\u201d or \u201cHappy New Year\u201d in Chinese.<\/p>\n
The Spring Festival introduced students and community members to the Chinese language, music, traditions and foods.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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