Kent State’s Chinese Students and Scholars Association celebrated Chinese New Year Sunday evening in the Student Center Ballroom.

The celebration began with traditional orchestral music, along with more current Chinese pop music as guests filtered into the ballroom..

CSSA rang in the Year of the Snake through multiple student performances. CSSA hosted a similar celebration to ring in the Year of the Dragon in 2012..

Kent State’s Dining Services provided a Chinese-themed dinner for event attendants. Shuo Ding, CSSA president, started the evening’s event by thanking the Office of Global Education, Qing Chen International Student Services, his CSSA officers and the Center for Student Involvement for helping organize the celebration..

The night’s entertainment opened with a traditional Chinese dragon dance where a 20-foot-long paper mache and cloth-covered dragon, supported by six students, snaking through tables, dipping and diving inches from people’s heads. “You can’t have a Chinese celebration without a dragon,” said Jonna Qiu, sophomore fashion design major.

After the dragon made its way through the crowd, students began to put on their performances for the event, which included a Chinese rap song, women dancing the cha-cha with a pianist, a comedy act and other musicians.

CSSA officers wished all of the event attendants words of encouragement for the upcoming year.

“Chinese New Year and the fall festival are both chances for foreign students to make the globe smaller,” Ding said. “We encourage developing relationships with American students.”.

Ben Miller is the international affairs reporter for the Daily Kent Stater

Contact Ben Miller at [email protected].