On Saturday, Feb. 9 Whitman students, staff and community members celebrated the Lunar New Year in the Reid Ballroom. Chinese international students as well as Chinese-identifying Americans put the event together with the help of volunteers. The event had a variety of activities, performances and even a lottery.

The concert program was comprised of songs and instrumental compositions. It started off with a song called “Not That Different” performed by Annie Xue, Candice Chen, Jiayu Zhang, Tina Tao, Tracy Cui and Erin Zheng as the pianist. This group demonstrated a well-coordinated and well-rehearsed composition.

Steven Wang, Henry Gao, Michael Wu and Roderick Wang rapped “Made in China” by Higher Brothers x Famous Dex. The song discusses the fact that most of the things that are consumed in the West are made in China in a rather ironic way. Most of the audience were familiar with this song and demonstrated appreciation of the piece.

Some of the performances were instrumental pieces, such as “The Stream Flows” — a clarinet piece performed by Yami Yin, and “Jasmine” — also a clarinet piece performed by Joanna Yin.

“Joanna’s performance took me back to the days I was in China when I would visit a traditional garden,” said Bornnie Kabongo ’22.

Miaomiao Yu ’22 performed two pieces for guzheng (a traditional Chinese plucked string instrument) called “Blue-and-White Porcelain” and “Whisper from a Lute.”

“I am satisfied with how the event went. This is the first Chinese New Year when I didn’t stay with my family so it was a little bit different but I really enjoyed it and I’m so glad so many people could come,” said Yu.

One of the biggest surprises of the show was Carl Ye’s rap song called “New Year Wishes.” Carl wrote the song himself and it sounded quite impressive. “Carl’s performance was very energetic, and his lyrics were all original. I think the amount of thought he put into it was really impressive. I really enjoyed his performance, and you could tell this by the audience’s reaction: people got up, they were hyped,” said Fathi Assegaf ’19.

Other Chinese songs performed at the event include romantic ballads such as “Need You Now” performed by Ellen Liu and Jack Chen and the soothing “Flipped” performed by Scarlett He. Muller Xie at the end of the show entertained the public with a karaoke cover of Linkin Park’s “Leave out All the Rest.”

“I felt about the entire show so positively, I was so astonished by the rich Chinese culture and how the Chinese New Year event has special customs that make it unique like the lion dance and specific foods,” said Kabongo.

The China Whitman club provided some of the famous Chinese dishes.

“I was especially appreciative of the Bangbang Chicken they served because that has once been a staple of Jewett Dining Hall,” said Assegaf. Apart from the chicken, the visitors were able to try tofu, steamed rice and spring rolls, as well as a variety of hot teas.

This annual event was organised with the help of the China@Whitman club, as well as WEB, Asian and Middle Eastern Studies Department, Bon Appetit, Asian Studies House and ASWC. The supervisors, performers and the team of volunteers have put in a tremendous amount of effort, which resulted in a well-organised and entertaining celebration.