The Chinese Student and Scholar Association celebrated the Year of the Dragon by hosting their 2024 Chinese New Year’s Gala in the Lighthouse on Feb. 2.
Many gathered to enjoy the three-hour celebration of the traditional Chinese Lunar New Year. The event presented a variety of immersive activities as well as exciting student performances.
CSSA member Rongjie Kang said this event promoted Chinese traditions and enhanced the New Year atmosphere on campus.
“It allows Chinese students to sense the vibe of good fortune on campus,” Kang said. “It allows everyone to feel the depth of Chinese culture.”
History of the Chinese New Year
Chinese New Year is one of the most important traditional celebrations for all Chinese families and is being celebrated across Asia. The Chinese New Year follows the lunar calendar, and the date of the new year is the first new moon on the calendar, according to Columbia University Asia for Educators.
Chinese New Year involves many traditional activities, such as dumpling making, singing, dancing and watching the Chunwan — a celebration of the CCTV New Year’s Gala held in China.
Children and teenagers traditionally receive red envelopes with money inside as a sign of good fortune in the following year, according to Chinese Highlight. People usually play traditional Chinese games such as Mahjong and Chinese poker to celebrate Chinese New Year, according to National Geographic Education.
CSSA Celebration
CSSA held the Pepperdine Chinese New Year Gala on Feb. 2, as an early celebration of the actual New Year date, which was Feb. 10. Chinese New Year is celebrated across Asia, with many international students still choosing to celebrate in Malibu on the Chinese New Year. Many Asian international students came to the events.
CSSA decorated the seats and tables inside the Light House with red paper. They also set up stations with traditional New Year ornaments such as red lanterns and spring couplets.
Seoyong Yoon, a first-year international student from Seoul, Korea, said he enjoyed the celebration.
“The Chinese New Year Gala was fun,” Yoon said. “Many people across Asia gathered together to celebrate this festival.”
Yoon said he particularly enjoyed the food CSSA provided, which reminded him of his year in China.
“The food we had was just like the food I had in Shanghai,” Yoon said.
CSSA organized numerous Chinese New Year activities for participants to enjoy and experience Chinese culture.
These activities include immersive hands-on experiences such as dumpling making and traditional Chinese calligraphy at the stations that CSSA members held.
The event officially began at 5:30 p.m., when students received envelopes with money inside as a sign of good luck upon checking in.
The hosts, junior Manyi Wang and first-year Yiran Tao, then took the stage to introduce the event and the agenda for the night.
RnD, a student-led dance group on campus, performed “Perfect Night” by K-pop group LE SSERAFIM.
CSSA also ordered Chinese food for all participants to enjoy. The event also provided other Chinese snacks such as sunflower seeds, rice crackers, sachima and more.
Around 6:30 p.m., the stage welcomed senior Eric Lau with his performance of “Your Man” by Josh Turner. The audience clapped and cheered for him.
As the events continued, three more students nominated themselves to come on stage and perform songs.
Hao Chi, a Chinese international student from Pepperdine’s Graziadio Business School, performed Chinese pop song “Chengdu” by Lei Zhao and “More Difficult than it seems” by Tiger Huang.
Huiso Roh, a first-year Korean international student, performed “A Glass of Soju” by Lim Chang Jung, adding diversity to the gala with Korean songs. Sophomore Austin Yeon performed a well-known Chinese song “Pengyou” by Wakin Chau.
The last activity of the evening was the “Drumming of Flowers.” In traditional Chinese music, participants form a circle and pass around the “flower.” The “flower” is a flower-shaped ball made of red silk. When the music stops, the person who has the “flower” is out.
After a few rounds of the game, the winners received prizes, including AirTags, bracelets, gift cards and more.
Students hope cultural celebrations like this can continue happening on campus.
“I hope Pepperdine could host more events like this to make more people aware of Chinese and Asian cultures and to celebrate together,” Yoon said.
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Contact Irene Tao via email: yiran.tao@pepperdine.edu or by Instagram: @iiyiran
