Penn State Law students celebrate the Year of the Goat

Penn State Law LLM students welcomed the Year of the Goat with a Chinese celebration in the Lewis Katz Building Friday night, which included performances, games, and food.

Chinese New Year is an annual celebration, held in January or February, to mark the start of a new year and the beginning of spring according to the lunar calendar. The festival brings a little piece of home to the Chinese students at Penn State Law and the Penn State School of International Affairs, both housed in the Lewis Katz Building.

“We wanted to bring a bit of the wealth of Chinese culture to central Pennsylvania to share,” said Caroline Sheldon, assistant dean of graduate and international programs. “This celebration not only helps share the Chinese culture with the students here at the law school, but helps those who are studying here from China and other various Asian countries to feel more at home.”

The festivities included a display of the pageantry of the traditional Chinese celebration followed by a sampling of Chinese food that is typically served on the New Year's holiday. The pageantry included a musical performance by law fellow Mungbei Wang on a dulcimer, an instrument that is a cross between a xylophone and a guitar, and a dance by children from the Happy Valley Chinese School.

 "It is a great opportunity for the Penn State Law community to participate in the Chinese New Year celebration, and appreciate aspects of the Chinese culture” said LL.M. program coordinator Jing Hu organizer of the event. “The students who participated in the performance showed their talents beyond being law students.”

A number of Chinese Penn State Law and SIA students helped coordinated the event. After the performances, the students played traditional Chinese New Year games with the audience.  In one game, members of the audience had to go up on stage and carry ping pong balls with chopsticks from one side of the stage to the other.  Law student, Levi Brown, who lived in Taiwan for two years and speaks Chinese, served as master of ceremonies for the event.

“This event brought back many great memories for me,” Brown said. “I was honored and enthusiastic to participate.”

This event was the first celebration of the Chinese New Year for Penn State Law, but organizers hope it will become an annual occurrence.