Celebrate the New Year all over again with Missouri University of Science
and Technology’s Chinese Students and Scholars Association (CSSA) on Feb.
3.

The campus community and the public are invited to attend CSSA’s annual
Spring Festival, also called the Chinese New Year or Lunar New Year. To usher
in 2008, the Year of the Rat, CSSA has planned a cultural show and dinner
featuring authentic Chinese cuisine.

“The Spring Festival is the most important festival for Chinese people,”
says Songping Wu, CSSA president. “We want to share our culture with the campus
and the Rolla community.”

The cultural show and Chinese dinner are happening Feb. 3. The show will
start at 5 p.m. in Leach Theatre of Castleman Hall. Tickets for the show are
free, but seating is limited and tickets go fast. The dinner will follow the
show at 7 p.m. at the Havener Center, and tickets are $5.

Tickets for both events will be available starting Tuesday, Jan. 22. Show
tickets can be picked up at the Leach Theatre Box Office, and dinner tickets
can be purchased outside the Havener Center of the Curtis Laws Wilson
Library.

The Spring Festival begins on the first day of the first lunar month, which
this year is Feb. 7. The festival continues for 15 days and is a time for
celebration and the gathering of family, particularly on New Year’s Eve when it
is tradition for families to share a large, elaborate meal, Wu says. Another
custom is for families to view CCTV’s New Year’s Gala, a variety show featuring
skits, comedy, and songs and dances.

The cultural show and dinner planned at Missouri S&T will echo these
traditions, bringing a feeling of home to the university’s Chinese students and
faculty.

Wu says about 13 programs will be presented during the cultural show,
including a Tibetan dance, a chorus of Chinese pop songs, a performance by the
faculty chorus, instrumental music and two Kung Fu demonstrations. New this
year will be a fashion show of traditional Chinese clothing.

“I think the fashion show will be something special for us,” Wu says. “Our
idea is to express Chinese history, so we will exhibit costumes from the
different Chinese dynasties.” Following the cultural show will be a dinner
featuring authentic Chinese cuisine, which Wu says is very different from
American-style Chinese food. Dishes made with pork, beef, vegetables and
chicken will be prepared in a variety of methods using Chinese ingredients not
found in many American supermarkets.

For more information, visit the Chinese Students and Scholars Association
online at www.mst.edu/~cssa.