This year Chinese New Year fell on the 5th of February, with various events surrounding the celebration occurring both at LSE and in the London area.
The China Development Society (CDS) put up a stall outside the SU in conjunction with the Japanese and ASEAN societies. The stall gave students the opportunity to try different traditional snacks such as Chinese pastries, duck neck, and chicken feet. Dressed in traditional clothing, they also showcased traditional music instruments and gave opportunities for people to try their hand at Chinese calligraphy.
The CDS Chinese New Year efforts continued to Bankside, where a dumpling making and calligraphy workshop took place on Friday, for which around 30 people participated.
The Chinese department at LSE also held events within the department in the weeks leading-up to CNY. This included a department-wide festive meal in Chinatown and ambassadors coming from Hu’nan TV to do a workshop with select students on the 31st.
While smaller scale things have been happening and will continue to, some were surprised by the lack of wide-scale participation. Given LSE’s reputation of being a largely international campus and boasting a large percentage of Asian students who would celebrate Chinese New Year at home, many noted the scale of the celebration was relatively small.
A teacher from the Chinese department said the small scale of this year’s events was “unusual”, while a member of the CDS mentioned how, “I think more people could be advocated about CNY probably. There are not so many peers from other countries who came to our stall”. She noted she would have liked to see more advocacy in general in the lead-up to Chinese New Year and therefore more participation in celebrations from students from other countries.
-Zehra Jafree
