The Chinese New Year welcomed the Year of the Rat to the University. The Chinese Student and Scholars Association hosted this year’s Chinese New Year celebration Saturday evening in the Student Union Theater. Chang Wei, president of CSSA and business graduate student, said CSSA hosted the celebration to promote Chinese culture. “We have a huge group of people that have a great potential that could do something great at LSU,” Wei said. “LSU has a tradition of diversity on campus, and we’d like to continue to promote that and to contribute a lot of our culture to promote the trend of diversity.” Wei said CSSA has more than 500 members and continues to grow. The celebration included performances of all types including dance routines, singing, musical performances, plays, a martial arts exhibition and even a fashion show. Young children stepped on the stage dressed in traditional Chinese outfits with colorful designs. One performance stood out among the rest. Circus Robot, a local dance crew, performed a modern break dancing routine different from many of the other traditional performances of the night. “It’s a good chance to communicate with other people from other cultures and show our own,” said Wei Ping, mechanical engineering graduate student and a volunteer for the Chinese New Year celebration. Wei said because Chinese students are one of the biggest international communities on campus, he wants people to get to know them and their culture. Yunan Yuan, vice president of CSSA and electrical engineering graduate student, said there are Chinese Student and Scholars Associations throughout campuses across the nation. Yuan said it is a tradition of every CSSA to celebrate the Chinese New Year. University students were not the only ones to attend the celebration. Members of the Baton Rouge community were also there, and people from all backgrounds attended the event. “This year, we probably have the most diverse audience,” Yuan said. “We make a special effort to invite a diverse group to celebrate with us.” Wei said the audience’s diversity is something that makes them work harder. One part of the event was a tribute to people who were affected by a disastrous snowstorm in China that affected the eastern, central and southern parts of China and caused billions of dollars in damage and more than 60 deaths. CSSA held donations for the China Red Cross Society to help all of the affected people. “We want to let everybody know that it is Chinese New Year, we are celebrating, and we’d like you to join us in the celebration,” Wei said.
—-Contact J.J. Alcantara at [email protected]