Students from four Philadelphia universities gathered for the 2024 Philadelphia Four Schools Spring Festival Gala Feb. 11 to celebrate the Chinese New Year.
Organized annually by the Chinese Students and Scholars Association (CSSA) groups of St. Joe’s, University of Pennsylvania, Drexel University and Temple University, the gala is a celebration of the Chinese New Year, also known as the Spring Festival or Lunar New Year, which fell on Feb. 10 this year.
The Philly gala, held this year in Penn’s Irvine Auditorium, is the longest-running Chinese New Year festival hosted by university CSSA groups in the United States, said Julie Juan Yu, Ph.D., director of the China Program and Chinese Program, who has been the advisor of St. Joe’s CSSA for over 10 years.
The Chinese New Year marks the beginning of the year based on the lunar calendar. In Chinese culture, it is a time to exchange the bad of the previous year for the good of the upcoming year.
It is also a time for family. And for many Chinese international students who cannot spend the new year with their families, events like the Spring Festival Gala help them feel closer to home, said Yao Xue, M.A. ’24, president of St. Joe’s CSSA.
“Even though we’re all far away from our home country, and we don’t have our friends around us, we still get new friends with us to enter a new year,” Xue said. “The gala serves as a symbol of togetherness and community spirit. It’s my second time celebrating the new year here, and I’m really grateful to have this chance to create new memories and forge bonds with these fellow students.”
This is the first year all four schools have hosted the event together since before the covid-19 pandemic. The gala’s 19 total performances were a celebration of Chinese art and history, as well as a show of collaboration between the four schools.
“This opportunity to collaborate on dancing and performing provided a platform for cultural exchange,” said Yaqin Wang, M.A. ’24, vice president of St. Joe’s CSSA. “Through practices, we delved into the traditional cultural significance behind each movement, fostering deeper understanding and friendship.”
A combination of both local and Chinese international students from St. Joe’s performed in two of the gala’s acts: “Seeking,” a dance performance, and “Reverie of Rouge and Ebony,” a fashion show catwalk. There were 16 student performers from St. Joe’s in total, including Xue and Wang.
“Seeking” included eight performers from St. Joe’s with flowing dresses and handheld fans, incorporating the long fabrics into the movement of the dance. The catwalk featured 15 students split into pairs or trios, half of whom were St. Joe’s students, with Chinese international students modeling Western clothes and local students modeling traditional Chinese outfits.
The symbol of the dragon was featured prominently throughout the entire gala since the Chinese New Year marks the transition into the Year of the Dragon. Every year of the Chinese lunar calendar is represented by one of the 12 Chinese zodiacs, each with its own meaning and strengths. The dragon symbolizes power, honor and good fortune, especially for those who were born within a dragon year, like Wenxi Song, M.A. ’24, a performer at the gala and member of the St. Joe’s CSSA.
Just before the gala, Education Counselor Yu Yougen of the Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China in New York was welcomed by members of St. Joe’s, in an exchange of gifts, ideas and well-wishes. Among the group that greeted the counselor were Yu; Ross Radish, J.D., vice president of student life and dean of students; Joshua Power ’05, Ed.D. ’16, dean of the school of education and human development; Michelle Smith-Lewis, senior administrative assistant to the interim vice president for student life; and Chinese international students.
Yu Yougen said his conversation with St. Joe’s faculty and staff is an example of the collaboration that makes it possible to support Chinese international students during their time in the U.S.
“The students from China gain a lot of support from the faculty, from the leadership of the university and also from the students themselves,” Yu Yougen said. “It’s very important to gain such support, and it’s an important event to meet the leadership of the university and exchange ideas for supporting the Chinese students on the campus.”
Encouraging and strengthening the dialogue and exchange between American and Chinese cultures is, for Julie Yu, a major aspect of the gala’s importance, as well as one of its goals.
“We’re living in a global world,” Julie Yu said. “Especially in America, it’s a melting pot, and it’s important to share the Chinese culture with people around us from different cultural backgrounds. Through the Spring Festival Gala, it is our hope that it will help in deepening the understanding of Chinese culture and understanding about Chinese people.”