On Saturday, Feb. 15, the Chinese Interest Association (CIA) invited the Colgate University community to celebrate the Chinese Spring Festival, which celebrates the beginning of Lunar New Year, at an event complete with food, crafts and live music from Colgate students.
“Our biggest goal is to create a sense of home, especially for international students who can’t celebrate the Lunar New Year with their families. We want them to still feel the warmth and joy of the festival here with us. At the same time, we hope to share Chinese traditions with the broader community,” CIA President Faye Liu, a junior at Colgate, said. “It’s all about bringing people together and celebrating something meaningful.”
The event featured eight unique performances by 13 (go, ’Gate!) students, including the music group Omnioaks. The following students performed: juniors Sia Hu, Jerry Zhang and Toby Xu; sophomores Eason Liu, Chenyun Liu, Richard Li, David Ye, Richelle Gao, Reem Numan, Matthew Liu, Luke Wang and Richard Li; and first-year Roy Yang.
The variety of musical performances — from rap songs to instrumental solos on the guzheng, a traditional Chinese string instrument — meant that the event had something for everyone. The celebration was itself an exploration of Chinese music through the ages, with a special emphasis on modern interpretations.
“I hope the community enjoyed our cultural values of providing hospitality and community-building through food and entertainment. Our performances were a chance for people to display their talents, and it can really show how different contemporary Chinese culture can be from what people may imagine. We have our traditional pieces as well as more pop culture alignments,” sophomore and treasurer of CIA Andrew Li said.
“One of my favorite performances was the rap performance delivered by Xu and Matthew Liu. At one point, everyone in the crowd was cheering for them and chanting the lyrics with them. It felt really inspiring to see such an engaged audience,” sophomore and secretary of CIA Grace Zhang said.
The CIA catered food from Red Chili, an authentic Chinese restaurant located in Syracuse. With over twelve dishes, from salt pepper fish filet to Szechuan-style fried spare ribs to stir-fried garlic spinach, the food options appealed to every palate (and, for underclassmen, were a nice change of pace from dining hall dinners).
The CIA core members — Faye Liu and sophomores Jessie Sui, Mandy Chen, Grace Zhang and Andrew Li — restarted the club after it went inactive last year. Since then, the club has created a space for community and culture for Chinese students, as well as the larger Colgate student body.
“I feel so lucky to work with such a dedicated and enthusiastic team that always finds a way to bring our ideas to life. Organizing events isn’t always smooth. There are challenges and last-minute surprises, but we always push ourselves to do better,” Faye Liu said. “Everyone in our group is passionate about creating fun and meaningful experiences for the student community.”
“It was incredibly exciting to see everyone who attended,” Andrew Li said. “I couldn’t have been happier to serve my community and be someone who gives back.”
“One of the biggest takeaways I want from this Lunar New Year event is to unite the Chinese community at Colgate,” Grace Zhang said. “There has been a pretty big divide between the Chinese international student community and the Chinese-American community. This event brought us all together. During the performances, it didn’t matter if you were a Chinese international student or a non-Chinese student. It was just really nice to have everyone come together and have fun.”
