Students of the Chinese Program Celebrate the Lunar New Year

Students are trying to solve Chinese character riddles.

Last Friday, Feb. 17, the Chinese Language Program rang in the Lunar New Year at the World Language Center by inviting students to celebrate with a night full of playing games and eating snacks.

The Lunar New Year, also called the Spring Festival, is the most popular traditional Chinese holiday that celebrates the fresh start of a new year, and it is based on the lunisolar calendar. Each month corresponds to the cycle of the moon.

The celebration began with students arriving in red attire, which is an important Chinese New Year tradition.

It is believed that red symbolizes the ability to repel evil spirits. A Chinese legend explains the origin of wearing red by detailing a battle against a beast that would appear every Lunar New Year’s Eve to eat people and livestock. Displaying red would scare the beast away.

The night continued with a game of Jeopardy over this important annual Chinese holiday. Those who played were able to showcase their knowledge about language, food, customs and traditions associated with the Spring Festival.

Other activities included riddles involving Chinese characters. These “lantern riddles” are a popular tradition of the Lantern Festival, which marks the end of over two weeks of celebration of the new year. Those attempting to answer the riddle are given a phrase of Chinese characters, and they must use context clues to figure out the meaning.

At the conclusion of the event, each activity that attendees participated in or won were awarded points for prizes such as Chinese snacks.

The Chinese Language Program in the Department of World Languages, Literatures and Cultures had a successful celebration of fun and immersion at the university, marking a successful start to the Year of the Rabbit.

Article by Katy Kelly, kek015@uark.edu; Katy Kelly is a sophomore majoring in journalism and minoring in Chinese. She has been taking Chinese since the fall of 2021 and is currently enrolled in CHIN 2013.

This story also appeared in the University of Arkansas News publication.