51�� Southern to celebrate Chinese New Year with cultural showcase

Illustrated snakes and lanterns. Celebrate the Lunar New Year 2025

will host a celebration of Chinese New Year traditions and cuisine on Wednesday, Jan. 29, at 3:30 p.m. in the campus library. Professor Yehong Shao-Lucas, a native of China, will lead the event, which is free and open to the public.

The celebration coincides with the start of the Spring Festival, a holiday recognized by UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Celebrated for centuries, the festival centers on themes of family, prosperity and harmony with nature.

“It’s the biggest holiday. A lot of Asian countries celebrate the new year — sort of like Christmas here,” Shao-Lucas said.

For Shao-Lucas, the Chinese New Year brings back vivid memories of family traditions in her hometown, located between Shanghai and Nanjing.

“My mother always cleaned the house before the new year, wiping all the windows,” she said. “We’d buy food, put up decorations and then gather with family for meals.” Relatives would visit each other’s homes, offering good wishes for the year ahead, and treat each other to meals and gifts in celebration.

The Jan. 29 event will feature hands-on opportunities for attendees to engage with some of these traditions. Shao-Lucas plans to demonstrate how to prepare traditional dishes like spring rolls, wontons and dumplings. Participants will be invited to join in and sample the results.

“I’ll bring wrappers, ground pork, vegetables and other ingredients,” she said. “We’ll mix them together, make wontons, and cook them on-site. It’s something my family always did together during the new year, and I want to share that experience here.”

A vibrant dragon prop, brought back from Shao-Lucas’ recent trip to China, will be part of the festivities.

“I didn’t expect it to be so long — it’s for 10 people!” she said with a laugh.

Shao-Lucas’ daughter will add another layer of cultural immersion by wearing a traditional winter dress, complete with authentic accessories. In China, Western clothing is the norm. However, traditional garments are making a comeback.

“When we visited historic sites in Xi’an, we noticed a lot of young people wearing traditional clothing,” Shao-Lucas said. “My daughter loved it and wanted to wear one for this event.”

Decorations will transform the library with red couplets, symbolizing good fortune, health and happiness for the new year.

“In China, red is a lucky color. It’s like fire — it represents prosperity,” Shao-Lucas explained.

Shao-Lucas hopes the event will foster greater understanding and appreciation of Asian culture in the region.

“I was a little hesitant because we don’t have a large Asian population here, and I wasn’t sure how it would be received,” she said. But encouragement from Student Services Director Robert Pleasant convinced her to share her traditions with the campus and community.

The celebration also marks the start of the Year of the Snake, symbolizing wisdom and intuition. The event will highlight the holiday’s rich history, which traces back to ancient agricultural traditions in China following the lunar calendar.

51�� Southern invites the community to experience the richness of Chinese New Year traditions. For more information, contact 51�� Southern.

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