Chinese School celebrates New Year

Scranton Chinese School administrators Dr. Shuhua Fan and Dr. Yaodong Bi, of The University of Scranton, and Dr. Chaogui Zhang, of Marywood University, welcomed a crowd of approximately 130 children and adults to the Third Annual Chinese New Year’s Celebration on Feb. 24 at Brennan Hall on The University of Scranton campus.

Chinese New Year was celebratedon Feb. 10 as Chinese people observed the arrival of the “Year of the Snake.”

This year, the school’s New Year festivities were scheduled in conjunction with The Lantern Festival, traditionally held on the last day of the Spring Festival celebration, the 15th day of January on the Chinese Lunar Calendar.

“In 2013, the Chinese School started its spring semester on Feb. 3,” said Dr. Fan. “Then we had Feb. 10 (Chinese New Year Day) off because some families wanted to observe the Chinese New Year and call family members in China while other families wanted to bring their kids to NYC or Philly to participate the New Year celebration in the greater Chinese communities there.”

Some of the highlights of the event were the students’ talent show that featured children as young as 2 years old participating, traditional Chinese dishes prepared by families, the Dragon Dance and the “infusion and interaction of Chinese and Western cultures.”

Dr. Fan said, “This is the first time we had Irish dance at our festival.”

Food was provided by The University of Scranton and families of the Chinese school.

It was also an opportunity for families with adopted children from China to share their culture and traditions, she noted.

“We would like to express our appreciation to The University of Scranton administration for providing classrooms/facilities over the past three years,” said Dr. Fan.

Brennan Hall is the home to the Chinese school, which was founded in 2010 to promote Chinese language literacy and cultural exchanges and to promote cultural diversity in the greater local community.