Chinese students set to celebrate 'New Year'

Zhang Wanfa
DM Contributing writer

Today, on the other side of the globe, about one and half billion Chinese people in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Southeast Asian countries are celebrating their greatest holiday -- The Spring Festival.

At Ole Miss, the Friendship Association of Chinese Students and Scholars (FACSS), one of the largest student organizations of this community, is also holding a party celebrating this great occasion of the Chinese.

This get-together, cosponsored by International Programs Office and Croft Institute of International Studies, will be held in the Auditorium of the Education School on Saturday, Feb. 5.

Besides performances given by Ole Miss students, a performing group of the Second Presbyterian Church from Memphis will also present shows at the party.

According to Zhou Weitao, Chair of FACSS and also a graduate student of the Business School, all people in the community who speak Chinese or who are interested in Chinese culture are welcome to attend the party.

Free food and entertainment will be provided. It is expected that more than two hundred people will go to the party. The Spring Festival is actually the Chinese New Year, which is determined according to a Chinese lunar calendar. It comes usually a month later than the western Gregorian system.

The celebration has always been an exciting period in China, which regularly starts with a family reunion dinner on the last day of the previous year until the fifteenth day of the new year, ended by an exhibition of lanterns.

During the interval, a variety of activities are held, including fireworks show, dragon and lion dance, visiting relatives, giving money in red envelop to children, putting on red couplets on doors and most importantly worshipping ancestors. This is probably the longest New Year celebration in the world.

The Spring Festival has been celebrated by the Chinese for over two thousand years; however, what is peculiar about the Chinese lunar year is the introduction of 12 animals to indicate the cycle of years.

The Chinese also have a very long tradition to symbolize themselves with animals, which is very similar to what the westerners do with constellation. The 12 animals include rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog and pig in a strict order.

These animals are also called "sheng-xiao" in Chinese and any of the twelve animals symbolizes the year in which one is born.

The coming year is the Year of the Dragon, which is special not only because it coincides with the Millennium celebration based on the western Gregorian calendar, but also because the dragon is a special totemic animal in Chinese culture.

Dragon is widely believed to be the most formidable of the 12 symbols on the Chinese astrological calendar, which conjures up images of heroes and mystical tales.

This fancied animal has been worshiped as potent and benevolent, being able to wield great power to influence the workings of the universe and human fate. The Chinese often consider themselves the offspring of the dragon.

In America, there are also large-scale celebrations each year by overseas Chinese in some major cities like San Francisco, New York and Chicago.