Year of the Boar celebrated

Year of the Boar celebrated

CGSA showcases history, arts, food for Chinese New Year
celebration

By Tatiana Botton

During a festival filled with color and sound, the UCLA Chinese
community celebrated the Lunar New Year in Ackerman Grand Ballroom
Tuesday.

In celebration of Chinese cultural traditions and the Year of
the Boar, the UCLA Chinese Graduate Student Association organized
the Lunar New Year’s festivity to show the campus the richness of
Chinese culture through food, dance, history and martial arts.

"We (CGSA), decided to organize this event because the Chinese
community is one of the largest communities at UCLA and the Chinese
New Year is the most important celebration for us," said Pao-Fen
Tseng, vice president of the Chinese graduate association.

Although the event had to be held indoors because of the rain,
the beat of dance drums drew crowds from all sections of Kerckhoff
and Ackerman to view tables of candy, paintings and books.

"Chinese culture is not only Chinese food, as many people may
think. (The festival) is a good opportunity for the UCLA students
to come and see how broad the Chinese culture is," Tseng said.

The Lunar New Year, dictated by the lunar or moon-based
calendar, is actually Jan. 31 this year. But because most
presenters will be involved with Chinatown’s New Year celebration,
it was impossible for organizers to schedule the event on New
Year’s day, said Eric Yang, president of the Chinese Graduate
Student Association.

In the Chinese calendar, 12 animals individually represent the
different years of the lunar calendar. Tradition dictates that
people born under a specific animal are influenced by that animal’s
characteristics ­ a belief similar to the Western belief in
astrology.

Jan. 31, 1995, will unify Chinese people all over the world in
celebration of the "boar" year, one of the luckiest years in the
Chinese astrological calender.

Yesterday’s festivities celebrated one of the most important
events in the Chinese community, and lasted three hours. The
celebration included the traditional Lion Dance, martial arts
exhibitions and a fashion show highlighting clothes from the
various Chinese dynasties.

Even though all fashion show models were UCLA students, many of
them were not Chinese, resulting in a great deal of laughs from the
crowd at the sight of non-Chinese models wearing traditional
garb.

"I’m laughing because (the models) are some of my friends ­
and they’re Caucasians," said a Lion Dance performer.

Others demonstrated noodle-making, and the creation of Dragon
Beard Candy made of thin strings of candy wrapped around a peanut
and coconut filling.

"I just bought a box (of Dragon Beard Candy) for two dollars,
because it’s fascinating how these candies are made. It’s all by
hand," said Peter Hartman, a fifth-year astrophysics student.

As many mentioned, food was not the only presentation. A number
of martial arts experts performed to a mix of Chinese music and
even the most powerful American techno.

Performers demonstrated different styles such as "the monkey," a
jumpy Tao or combination of moves, and "Tai-Chi," which resembles a
soft but strong dance.

The performance, organized by Richard Branden, a U.S. champion
of martial arts, made people cheer after each display.

"I liked specially the kung-fu show, because it was very fast
and of good quality," said Ming Jeng a researcher in material
sciences and engineering, adding that he too is a kung-fu
expert.

Also present was an award-winning Chinese calligrapher, Jin Ce,
who showed students how to carve in marble and managed to carve
several students names for $40. In addition, Ce executed
calligraphy for other students.

"I’m going to give this calligraphy painting to my girlfriend.
It says I love her in Chinese," said Houman Esmaimvaeeh, a UCLA
biology student.

Many Chinese Americans present said they celebrate both Western
and Chinese New Years.

"I’m a mix of Chinese and American, and at home we celebrate
both the Christian New-Year and the Chinese one," said spectator
Noreen Yee.

But the celebration is not finished for most of the Chinese
community. For them, the real festivities won’t start until Jan.
31.