宾州州立白兰地酒公司于2月11日举办了一场中国宴会. 4 .庆祝农历新年. The event included authentic Chinese food, games and activities, and a lion dance performance.
The 宾州州立大学白兰地酒 community was recently treated to an authentic Lunar New Year celebration. The campus rung in the Year of the Tiger with traditional Chinese cuisine, Chinese Dragon Dancers and a plethora of traditional activities from across Asia.
The Feb. 4 .活动由多语种办公室主办 & 国际学生项目, 道德与公民参与中心, 以及多元文化俱乐部.
Yuxi Chen — known as CiCi by many on campus — and Haoyu Wang were the students behind the Friday evening program.
Wang, 他出生在中国，但大部分时间都在新加坡度过, 在农历新年活动方面是一位经验丰富的专业人士吗, 在他的教育生涯中，他计划了很多.
“I've been quite involved in planning for celebrations like Chinese New Year,” Wang said, noting that when he got involved in the multicultural club he was introduced to Chen. “CiCi told me that there was going to be a Chinese New Year Celebration and I said, Oh, 那是我的专业领域!’”
提到秋季学期的排灯节, Chen noted that she’s seen a lot of people find interesting ways to share their culture on campus.
“我就是喜欢这样，因为这也是我来美国的部分原因.S. 我认为这是一个文化融合的地方, where people appreciate each other and share each other’s differences,” Chen said. “所以这就是为什么我想分享一些关于我的文化.
“I just want to create a space to let people see or learn something from the culture I’m so proud of,她解释道. “我喜欢它，我真的很想让更多的人了解它.
“So I went to talk to Professor Ousey to ask her about hosting or planning an event to share something that I love about my culture and thank goodness she agreed immediately. 我真是太高兴了!” Chen said.
Debbie Lamb Ousey is the coordinator of multilingual student programs, 多语言学生课程群的共同协调员, 校园多元文化俱乐部的顾问, and campus liaison for Penn State’s Directorate of International Student and Scholar.
“我认为这证明了白兰地酒是多么受欢迎,” Ousey said of Chen’s desire to share her culture with the wider campus community. “That students feel comfortable doing that and sharing that … they shared a lot of themselves.”
To ensure the authenticity of the food being served at the Lunar New Year celebration, Chen worked with 宾州州立大学白兰地酒's housing and food services team, 带来她自己的家庭食谱供员工们参考.
“I also loved seeing the response of students and how enthusiastic the attendees were,” Ousey said, noting how wonderful it was to see students from a wide array of backgrounds coming together to celebrate the traditional Chinese event.
“It’s really neat that at Brandywine we’re able to have that cultural sharing,” Ousey said.
欧西指出，见到陈和王给人的印象尤其深刻, 谁都是一年级学生, 参与组织和领导春节活动.
“I just love seeing the growth in students and their leadership,” Ousey said. “我只能想象还会有多大的增长. 如果你是大一新生，我觉得这很棒.”
Chen is in her second semester at Brandywine and Wang started just this semester. When Wang took the stage as the emcee of Friday’s event, he’d only been on campus for a few weeks.
The Lunar New year, Chen explained, is the “most important festival” in Chinese culture. 正如陈所说, the event depends on the lunar calendar and as a result can fall on different dates each year. 抛开实际日期不谈, Chen said, the Lunar New Year represents a time when “we finish all our year’s hard work and people can finally go home and rest with their families. It’s a big time to just celebrate with family after all the harvest and hard work," said Chen.
“在我们的文化中，家庭真的很重要, so to have this time to celebrate with family and to have the most fancy dinner of the year, 这对我们来说真的是最神奇的事情,” Chen added. “We also want to remember our precious gifts and the hard times that have passed, 这就是为什么我们把这一天作为最重要的一天."
In China, 陈解释说，所有家庭都做大餐是标准的, 去拜访彼此的家, 以去寺庙或集市的旅行结束. “所以这只是关于家庭，”陈说. “这是一个只关乎家庭的时刻.”
陈分享说她来美国是为了完成高中学业. 起初，她妈妈和她一起在美国. “But now I’m here alone, so this time is quite hard for me,” Chen said. “我承认这一点, 因为这不是一件容易的事,” she added, noting that while she enjoyed connecting with her family virtually and receiving virtual red envelopes (a traditional Asian gift of money around a holiday). “I do wish I could be there with them because that’s what we always do.
“尽管我离他们很远, 无论距离多远，这种家庭联系永远不会破裂,” Chen said.
To be able to bring the Lunar New Year festival to her new home here at Brandywine, Chen said, 给她带来了那么多的快乐.
他分享了能够将这项活动带到他的学校意味着什么, 王指出，“在美国, 人们对中国文化还不是很了解.”
“So I come to find out that people who’ve been living in America, they don’t really know about us. Not yet. 他们知道的很多事情可能在很大程度上是不准确的. 所以我希望我能以这种方式提供帮助。.
Both Wang and Chen emphasized the sheer amount of misinformation being spread about Asian and specifically Chinese culture and how they hoped their event would help dispel some of that.
“我想尽我所能做到这一点,” Chen said, noting the smalls steps she’s taking towards sharing the “beautiful” parts of her “ancient and really elegant” culture with her new community.
“我可以与学校分享，这是一个相当大的社区, 但我们正在尽我们所能让它变得更好,” Chen said.
Both Chen and Wang work as international student mentors in the Office of Multilingual and 国际学生项目, an opportunity they’ve both taken full advantage of as a way of paying it forward.
“我真的很喜欢办公室的气氛,王在谈到多元文化俱乐部空间的环境时说. “I wanted to carry on this friendly and accepting atmosphere and culture in this office, 并把它带给未来的国际学生,” Wang said. “I want to be able to do my part in making international student feel more at home.”
