by Jin Woo Cho

The Stony Brook University students of the Community Service-Learning Living Learning Center hosted the 2^nd Annual Chinese New Year Celebration on February 18th with FCC, Families with Children from China. FCC is a non-profit organization supporting parents with adopted children. They have activities throughout the year to help the children learn Chinese culture. Long Island has a large contingent and even its own Chinese language school.

This event is now their largest and the highlight of all the activities they do throughout the entire year. The festivities began around 1PM at the Student Activity Center Ballroom A. More than 400 people attended including 175 children.

The event started off with a traditional Chinese buffet luncheon provided by Fortune Cookie of Oakdale. There were tables set up for arts and crafts and games for the children. Volunteers helped them to draw and color on construction paper and to cut out and make paper lanterns and paper roses. They entertained the children by playing catch. And children and adults alike admired the skill of a girl playing Chinese traditional yo-yo, also known as pull-bell.

There were a lot of performances during the event to keep the audience amused. Members of the SBU Lion Dance Team presented a traditional lion dance to the sound of pounding drums. The families oohed and ahhed as they expressed the dynamics of a dancing lion.

There was a magician, The Amazing Schmendrick, who kept the attention of the children with various magic tricks. He randomly selected some from the audience and made them pull out a cloth that eventually changed into the star spangled banner.

Perhaps the most popular feature of the event was the traditional Chinese paper cut artist, Master Cheng, made famous by Citibank's use of him in their commercials. The audience marveled at his intricate artwork created in just a minute with his fast handwork, as well as his own twist of wit within each of his designs. The children loved the pandas and dragons that were carved instantly in his hands. (I particularly liked the side profile of my face that he made for me.)

The day was a good opportunity to raise the awareness of the children about their native country in simple, friendly ways while they got to meet and play with other children.

The celebration concluded around 6PM after a slide show review of the past year’s ceremony and family pictures of each of the families who were present. In addition, the lucky winners of the raffle were announced and they all got a load of prizes.

Members of Sigma Beta Honor Society and Kappa Phi Lambda Sorority were also present to volunteer for various activities such as doing arts and crafts with the children. 

Photos of the event are at http://aasquared.org/gallery/FCCLunarNewYear2006