http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8EuBSK8DjQ
By Rick Lindfors
Galen Ettlin Reports
Many international students are unable to celebrate Chinese new year with their families. Groups at the University of Oregon offered them a place to gather and partake in the festivities.
Chinese lunar new year is a time when people traditionally return home to celebrate their heritage with family. But Chinese students at University of Oregon don’t have that option. This group of students from the campus Chinese publication Hua Feng magazine have come together to celebrate in a new way by showing traditional Chinese culture to other students at the U of O
Students learn about calligraphy, dumpling making, Chinese paper cutting, and Mahjong. But probably most important is educating people about what Chinese new year really means. While new year in the west is celebrated at midnight on January 1st, Chinese new year, or the Spring Festival, changes dates according to the lunar calendar. Families get together for a feast of traditional foods, and give younger members of the family envelopes of money colored red for luck. The festival lasts for several weeks, allowing people in China their longest vacation. But Chinese students studying abroad at U of O, this holiday is bittersweet.
“The feeling is more like really stressed because of schoolwork and I have so many classes,” Student Luoya Xu says. “Sometimes I will feel so stressed and I’ll want my family to be with me.”
But Chinese students are trying to focus on the positive, organizing events such as such as this Chinese culture night to celebrate in style. Beyond the performances by dancers and singers, the Chinese Student Association, along with Hua Feng magazine, gave out their own red envelopes of scholarship money to academic leaders of the Chinese student community. While Xu says this community is like a second family, she says there is no place like home.
“I don’t feel lonely but the feeling is different. You want your family to be with you in such an important festival.”
While Chinese students may not be given an official holiday by the University of Oregon, they’ve come together to create a new tradition at the U of O.