With the Chinese New Year starting today, UF students and local businesses are celebrating around town.
Although some organizations have already recognized the holiday, which marks the start of the year of the horse, others are gearing up for the new year — one of the more traditional Chinese holidays.
Yima Guo, a manager at Small House Chinese Restaurant, said he’s seen an increase in reservations.
The restaurant, located at 1120 W. University Ave., will serve its usual menu items, but Guo said dumplings and fish are a favorite around this time because they are symbolic of a united family and prosperity for the coming year.
Guo said he will not be observing the holiday with his friends like most will this new year. Instead, he’ll be working at the restaurant.
“We have to take care of the people who come to celebrate,” he said.
The holiday came early to the Reitz Union on Saturday, when the Chinese American Student Association held a celebration.
This year, the annual celebration featured a show called “The Scarlet Tale” that included storytelling through skit, song and dance. The Meihua Student Association of Martial Arts followed with a mixed-martial arts demonstration, and the celebration ended with various music and dance performances, wrote Melody Hung, a 20-year-old UF marketing sophomore and multimedia coordinator for CASA, in an email.
Later that weekend, the Chinese Student Association, a group of Chinese students studying abroad at UF, recognized the holiday with singing, Chinese foods and traditional dances. One such dance was the lion dance, where performers dressed up and mimicked the motions of a lion.
“Because of the new year’s show, I feel the atmosphere as in China,” said member Yuan Linfang, a 24-year-old UF education graduate student. “I think that it’s a very good way to get Chinese students together.”
Culinary Arts Student Union held a new year’s celebration Wednesday evening, giving participants the opportunity to prepare a variety of Asian dishes.
Club president Steven Che said he showed attendees how to make meals like Vietnamese chicken salad and Cantonese fried milk before they were invited to prepare the dishes themselves.
“Everyone enjoyed the food,” the 21-year-old UF food science and human nutrition sophomore said. “Nothing was bad-tasting.”
China’s state-run television station will show a four-hour New Year’s broadcast from China today, and students can watch online.
Even with the local festivities, Qi Pengxu, a 24-year-old UF chemistry graduate student, said the New Year’s celebration in Gainesville doesn’t compare to home.
Qi said he talks more often to his family in China around the holiday to feel more connected.
“I am Skyping every day to see how my family is preparing at home,” he said. “It gives me relief from being homesick.”
[A version of this story ran on page 8 on 1/31/2014 under the headline "UF students celebrate Chinese New Year with food, dances"]
Children aged 5 to 7 from the Hua-Gen Chinese School perform during the Spring Festival Gala at the Reitz Union Grand Ballroom on Sunday night. The event is hosted by the Chinese Student Association in celebration of the Chinese New Year.
