The Confucius Institute at Stony Brook University (SBU) hosted Chinese New Year celebrations to welcome the Year of the Dragon. More than 600 teachers and students from SBU, as well as local citizens gathered to celebrate the traditional Chinese festival. Educational Consul Wang Ying of the Chinese Consulate-General in New York and his wife, SBU’s Provost Dennis N. Assanis and his wife, SBU President’s wife Dr. Li, leaders of related divisions and departments, and leaders of related associations in Long Island attended the event. Also present were teachers and students from various colleges and departments of SBU. The event was divided into 3 parts: performances, Spring Festival reception and Spring Festival entertainment.

Before the performance began, Consul Wang Ying and the Institute’s American Director Prof. Arens conveyed their New Year wishes to the guests. The Institute’s Chinese Director Prof. Ying Bin expressed his gratitude to the Chinese Consulate-General and SBU for their support over the years, and to SBU’s teachers and students as well as local associations and community for their participation. Prof. Ying also gave an introduction to the Institute’s programs for 2012, and said he was eagerly anticipating hearing about the guests’ support and participation.

Splendid Chinese songs and dances

Colorful Chinese folk art forms

During 18:30 p.m. to 20:00 p.m., the Charles B. Wang Center Theater was packed with audience members. Well-known artists from New York presented the audience with excellent performances, including the folk dances “Beautiful Taihu Lake” and “Butterflies Lingering over Flowers”, the Chinese folk songs “Ode to the Plum Blossom” and “Good Day”, musical ensembles entitled “Spring Comes to the Qing River” and “A New Song of Herdsmen”. The highlight of the show was the song entitled “My Motherland” by Lv Kun, an artist who has won the “World’s Outstanding Artist Award”. Cui Wei and Li Ying, winners of the International Brotherhood of Magicians (IBM) Gold Medal totally enchanted the audience with their fantastic magic show.

After the performance, the Institute hosted a reception at the Charles B. Wang Center. While enjoying a musical fountain display, the guests, who were all very diverse ethnically and linguistically, raised their glasses to toast the Chinese New Year. Colorful recreational games, such as gobang, sudoku and pinning a nose on a face, also caught the eyes of the guests. Additionally, the Institute also arranged some activities to promote Chinese culture, such as riddle-guessing, Chinese chess, Chinese paper-cutting, Chinese knotting and calligraphy. Some participants wrote down the Chinese characters “fu (happiness)” and “chun (spring)”, and said they would bring them home for display.

Upper and lower left: Spring Festival dinner; upper right: learning calligraphy; lower right: learning to make Chinese knots

The event came to a successful end at 23:30 and drew wide attention from the local community. Demand for the tickets exceeded the supply. After the event, a number of the guests expressed their thanks to the Institute through mail or phone calls. They spoke highly of the Spring Festival event, which not only gave them a taste of the cheerful atmosphere of the Spring Festival, but also helped them experience the profoundness of Chinese culture. They also expressed their hope that there would be more chances for them to participate in cultural activities at the Confucius Institute.