By Roman Contreras
Staff Writer
The Year of the Pig has arrived and celebrations are underway.
On Feb. 9, the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, San Jose State Chinese Student Association collaborated with the Association of Chinese Students and Scholars at Foothill College and De Anza College for the second annual Chinese New Year Gala.
The event was held at the SJSU Morris Dailey Auditorium with an attendance of about 400 people. Tickets for the gala were pre-sold and available at the door for $5. Each ticket came with a raffle ticket for a giveaway that took place between performances.
“It’s kinda like Christmas for Chinese people,” said aerospace engineering sophomore Ken Zheng.
The Chinese celebrate the new year for fifteen days, with each day holding a specific meaning and practice. Red envelopes containing money are a highly recognized tradition in the Lunar New Year. The amounts vary, but it is customary that the cash inside is newly printed and of an even amount.
The event, held completely in Chinese, began with a small welcome speech. Following this, Consul Yang Zeng, from the Chinese Consulate in San Francisco, gave a short speech about celebrating the new year away from home.
“Every year at this moment, I feel very emotional because I celebrated the new year with my family when I was back in China,” said Zeng. “I have not been able to go back because of work, although this is the time that we miss home the most,” he continued.
Zeng praised students for their bravery in leaving their native country to further their education to provide better lives for their families back home.
The gala featured a variety of performances ranging from traditional to modern Chinese entertainment.
One of the featured performances was Shuang Huang. It is a traditional Chinese performance where one individual stands behind the other and speaks actions for the individual to act out in front.
Another Chinese traditional art, Xiang Sheng, or crosstalk, has come to overshadow Shuang Huang as a more preferred form of comedic performance in modern-day China.
“We want to make this show because we hope that this traditional art will not be lost,” said Liangle Song, one of two performers in the act.
Bay Area-based Chinese hip-hop artist, Xiaochuan Yang, known under his stage name Chino Yang, also performed at the gala.
Yang found his rise to fame after competing in and winning the popular Chinese reality rap show “The Rap of China.” His addition to the gala provided a modernized look at Chinese culture.
In addition to these two performances, a slew of other artists took the stage to showcase their acts. Performances ranged from musical acts to comedy shows, Chinese martial art demonstrations and traditional Chinese dances involving swords and umbrellas.
April Jiang, computer science sophomore and president of the SJSU Chinese Student Association, coordinated the whole event.
Jiang chose acts that she knew would represent both traditional and modern Chinese art. The process of putting together an event as jam-packed with performances like this one was difficult, but Jiang found it nothing but rewarding in the end.
“My favorite part is the whole thing,” Jiang said. “Watching all the performances and everything come together is great.”
