Chinese students, scholars set to ring in New Year

Legend has it that Buddha invited all the animals to meet him on the first day of the New Year. Only a dozen came. Buddha assigned a year to each of the twelve, and announced that people born in a particular year would assume some of the characteristics of its animal.

This new year, 4704, a Year of the Dog, began on Jan. 29, when the moon was darkest. Festivities will continue until Feb. 15, when the moon is shining bright.

China’s New Year Festival, also known as the Spring Festival, is the country’s most important holiday. Yu Huang, producer of the annual program presented for the last three years on campus by the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s Chinese Students and Scholars Association (CSSA), hopes the event will broaden the fan base of the New Year celebration.

Huang says that the performance, free and open to all, will include dance, instrumental and vocal music and more. The performance date is Sunday, Feb. 5 at 7 p.m. in the Wisconsin Union Theater. For more information, contact CSSA at (608) 628-8001, uwcssa2005@yahoo.com.

“The CSSA has 1,200 members at UW–Madison, covering almost every college, school and department on campus,” he says. “We take great pride in contributing to the promotion of exchange between the Chinese culture and others, as well as the promotion of cultural diversity in the Madison community. We are trying to build a community that will consist not only of Chinese students and scholars, but also those of other ethnic backgrounds who have an interest in the culture and traditions of China.”

Huang himself was born in Nanchang and also has lived in Beijing. These days he is a Ph.D. candidate in the UW–Madison School of Pharmacy. He says that working on the New Year’s celebration is adding a host of skills he expects to find useful in his professional life. One of the most important, he says, is fund-raising.

“We work on proposals and give presentations before different committees. We are also learning how to negotiate effectively, and I am also discovering ways to work well with my teammates. All these skills will benefit my future. I am studying the science of drug discovery, but I have learned so many other things on this production that I will be able to put to good use,” he says.