Students and faculty filled the Campus Center Courtyard on Friday, February 7, to participate in celebrations of the Lunar New Year. The Center for Chinese Studies at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa celebrated their “Center for Chinese Studies Scholarships and Award Lunch-in” in collaboration with the Campus Center Board Activities Council.
This is the second year that the Center for Chinese Studies at the Campus Center Board Activities Council collaborated to celebrate the Lunar New Year.
“We are honoring all our CCS faculty and students who have received scholarships from our center. We are collaborating with the Campus Center Activity Board Council to simultaneously celebrate the Chinese New Year,” said Ming-Bao Yue, director of Center of Chinese Studies and associate professor for East Asian Languages & Literatures.
Hosting these events in public spaces brings together the community, our campus and our students who value education, said Shana Brown, an associate professor of History and director of the Honors Program at the University of Hawaiʻi.
“This is a fun event. This is an event that brings together students, faculty and leadership here at UH Mānoa and its to appreciate all that’s being done in Chinese Studies and provide the students with great to learn more about China,” said Brown.
Sophia Lauren Lopez, the chairwomen for the Campus Center Board Activites Council and Honors student, worked with the Center of Chinese Studies to continue to create events like this, “This is the Lunar New Year event in collaboration with the Center of Chinese Studies and we are giving out free 2-dollar Ding Tea coupons, crafts goodie bags and a lion dance.”
Inside of these goodie bags were candies representing good luck for the upcoming year and a golden keychain of a snake as 2025 is the year of the snake in the Chinese zodiac calendar.
“Doing these things in a public space is a form of education, you don’t have to be in a classroom to learn things, were trying to bring these calendars and different ways of celebrating holidays to the students at large” said Cathryn Clayton, the associate professor and chair of the Asian Studies Program at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Students expressed how this event is an opportunity to learn more about Lunar New Year and how this creates safe spaces for students to learn about one another’s culture.
The Wah Ngai Lion Dance Association wrapped up this year’s Lunar New Year Celebration with two lion dances. “It’s good luck (lion dancing), it’s good, it’s joyful, it’s celebratory. The lion itself is an important symbol in Chinese Culture for strength, loyalty, courage, auspiciousness, it’s a lucky and joyful symbolism,” said Brown.
To learn more about The Center for Chinese Studies, visit them with this link: https://manoa.hawaii.edu/chinesestudies/
