In order to give overseas students a little taste of the Lunar New Year festival in lead up to the holidays, the NPUST Office of International Affairs organized the “Shur-Prise” Spring Festival Celebration (playing off the Chinese word for “snake”). The event was held at the Second Restaurant on campus on January 13, starting at 2:30 pm. With the “Year of the Snake” about to slither in, a variety of serpentine activities were organized, including tapioca Snake Ball making, snake origami, paper cutting, and an “Adding Feet to a Snake” Spring Festival couplet relay race. In addition to helping overseas students get familiar with some of the features of the upcoming ‘Year of the Snake’ Lunar New Year celebration, the event was also an opportunity for the school’s staff, faculty, and local students to deepen their connections with the school’s internationals through a time of fun interaction. In all, 34 overseas students and 24 staff, faculty and local students took part in the time of cultural exchange.
At the opening ceremony, NPUST Vice President for Education, Shang-min Ma said, “the Lunar New Year is around the corner, and I want to wish you all a healthy and happy Year of the Golden Snake. As I look at all the students present here today, it reminds me of my youth, when I was studying in the United States and was unable to go back to my hometown to reunite with my family during the holidays. At that time, I also celebrated the New Year locally and participated in this type of experiential activity with everyone else. Once again, I wish you all a peaceful and successful new year!”
The celebration kicked off with a ‘couplet copying relay race’ with teams of 7 (comprised of three school staff and four overseas students) competing for the prize. The process of the relay began with a staff member writing out a spring couplet with a brush. Then the overseas students copied out each character based on a single glance, and pass the brush on to a faculty member who had to write out the correct character. With a combination of simple and complex characters in the mix, the contestants sometimes had it easy, but sometimes faced real challenges. And with tense music playing in the background and the cheers and laughter of the audience, the activity turned out to be a lot of fun.
After the couplet competition, Chia-Chun Ku, a teacher from the NPUST Research Center provided a detailed introduction to the history of Taiwan’s rice culture. Then, the students were divided into three groups which rotated through three different activities, including tapioca ball making, red tortoise cake making, and origami and paper cutting. Akshaya Pasupuleti, an Indian exchange student said with amusement: “There are no such handcrafts in India, they are really novel!”
Comparing the Chinese custom of wearing red during the Chinese New Year with their own customs, Qandeel Zahra from Pakistan said: “We wear white clothes during the New Year to symbolize happiness and joy. Today’s Lunar New Year experience feels very fresh to me!”.
Nepalese professor Lekhnath Kafle, who teaches at the NPUST Department of Tropical Agriculture, is well integrated into Taiwanese culture. Commenting on the activities, he said: “The most magical thing is the way in which the paper-cuttings turns into a four-sided three-dimensional word ‘Spring’!”. Chia-Wei Liu of the Personnel Office happily shared that it was “very fresh to experience the Chinese New Year culture and handicrafts with foreign students!”, and Chieh-Shih Yeh, secretary of the Vice-President’s Office, enthusiastically added that “this activity is great! It really has a Chinese New Year flavor to it!” At the end of the event, everyone had a chance to taste the hot hand-made dumplings and steamed red tortoise cakes. Overall, the warm and joyful atmosphere and the interesting activities provided an excellent opportunity for everyone to enjoy a ‘Shur-Prise’ Spring Festival Celebration together.