MORGANTOWN — Happy Chinese New Year!
In collaboration with the United Chinese Americans, the WVU Chinese Students and Scholars Association and the West Virginia Chinese Association (WVCA) the Chinese community in Morgantown celebrated the new year together Saturday at the Mountanlair.
Ray Liang, president for North America Hakka Association, vice president for West Virginia Chinese American Association, and treasurer for United Chinese Americans, said this year is the year of the pig.
“The year of the pig normally means our people wish to be rich, to be wealthy…because a pig is lazy but no harm to anybody,” he said.
Liang said the festival is organized every year with the collaboration of these organizations.
“We share our culture. We want to promote our heritage to our greater Morgantown community,” he said.
Performances includes traditional Chinese music, and different dances, including an umbrella dance and hip hop dance.
Liang said within the organizations he serves, one of the important things is engaging those within the West Virginia Chinese community. This includes voter registration, volunteering time, sharing their heritage and a better understanding of the relationship between both China and the United States.
“In general we are trying to encourage the Chinese community and willing to give, donate and volunteer,” he said.
Liang said the Chinese American community in West Virginia is small and young, but they are very well connected. UCA is a nationwide nonprofit and nonpartisan federation.
In China, during Chinese New Year people travel home to celebrate the holiday. Many people at their celebration Saturday were students and may not have had the opportunity to go home and celebrate.
“We work really hard the entire year so at the end we come home to celebrate, and also we pray for better for the New Year and also we want to help others and that’s another a very important core element,” he said.
Jiayi Sun, from the WVU Chinese Students and Scholars Association said the celebration is the biggest and most important celebration in China and it means a lot to her and the students in the association.
“Actually as the director, we are nervous today. A little bit nervous because we are afraid of making mistakes but it’s our own honor to give the Chinese community a time to celebrate our biggest festival,” said Sun.
HanTing Zhang of the WVCA and Chinese Associate for Science and Technology said during this time in China all go to their hometown and it’s important for students in the community here to have to opportunity to get together.
“This is our annual event, and as you can see people are very happy,” he said.
The Chinese New Year Celebration goes on for 15 days until Feb. 20.
