The UAF Chinese Club celebrated diversity and community Feb. 18 at the 2023 Chinese Lantern Festival.
“We want to give back to the community and give people a place to join together and show diversity,” Club President Sophie Zhang said. “Even if we aren’t a part of a certain culture, we can still enjoy it, and we wanted to make sure to include that.”
The event featured a Chinese buffet, live performances and traditional activities for all ages. Over 300 people attended, a full house.
“We had a tea booth, calligraphy, and riddles that people could get prizes for winning,” Zhang said. “We invited the Inu-Yupiaq dance group from UAF to perform the opening dance.”
The UAF Chinese Club has been putting on Chinese Lunar New Year events for over 10 years, but this year they changed it up by celebrating the Chinese Lantern Festival instead.
“The Lantern Festival used to be known as Chinese Valentine’s day,” Zhang said. To match, their theme this year was love. “It’s not just about person to person love though. It’s on a bigger scale. So we made sure to include all parts of that.”
The club also made sure to keep the planet in mind this year by working with the UAF Office of Sustainability to use recycled materials as much as possible and being responsible with their trash afterward.
“This year we wanted to make it fresh — we added a lot of new elements and collaborated with a lot of new groups,” Zhang said.
The club invited multiple UAF organizations to have booths, one of them being researchers from the Social Environmental Health Research Project. They were able to give a speech about their goal, which is to engage the underrepresented voice, and have a booth that people could visit to learn more.
The festival was a huge success only because of the hard work that went into it. Club member Erick Dela Rosa said, “I just want to acknowledge and appreciate Sophie for the event. For all the details, decorations, communication and dedication she put into this, this event won’t be possible without her.”
The club is open to new members and hopes to continue spreading love and diversity. “We’re not prioritizing anyone. We want to include anyone to immerse themselves in culture or enjoy cultural activities,” Zhang said. “This club is for everyone.”
