Chinese Student Association celebrates Year of the Snake
Lions, dragons and K-pop dances, oh my! The Rice Chinese Students Association held its annual Lunar New Year Gala Feb. 1, ringing in the Year of the Snake with performances, food and vibrant cultural festivities.
This year’s showcase drew around 500 attendees, according to CSA co-internal vice president Sarah Zeng — a number that reflects the gala’s consistently high demand.
“I’m most excited to see all the guests enjoy the event,” Zeng, a Lovett College junior, said. “That’s who we’re throwing it for every year, so being able to serve the community and share our culture with Rice students — whether they’re familiar with it or want that ‘home away from home’ vibe — is really meaningful.”
This year’s gala showcased a wide array of student groups — including Rice Dance Theatre, Basyk, Kasama and the Vietnamese Student Association — as well as the non-Rice-affiliated North American Youth Chinese Orchestra.
According to CSA co-president Amy He, preparations for this year’s gala began as early as September 2024. She said that efforts centered on creating an immersive experience for attendees through various new additions and improved logistics.
“We’ve learned a lot of lessons from hosting [the gala] in previous years,” He, a Sid Richardson College senior, said. “We’re taking the improvements we’ve made to plan for this year … figuring out different ways we can store our food so it doesn’t get cold or … solutions for other problems we ran into in the past.”
Co-internal vice president Hanna Zhang said this year’s CSA board wanted to elevate the gala experience beyond last year’s event.
“I think this year, we definitely tried to increase the amount of stuff that’s involved,” Zhang, a Duncan College junior, said. “We bought a ton of decor for the lobby, we’re giving out little red envelopes [hongbao] with chocolate inside and we also invited an outside orchestra … We’re hoping the audience will really enjoy all these elements of Chinese culture coming together.”
Among the night’s acts was the Rice Lions’ lion dance, complete with acrobatics, elevated tables and audience interactions. The team has made a tradition of performing at the gala each time it’s been held in person in recent years.
Rice Lions’ Co-President Khoi Nguyen said the Lions look forward to sharing this tradition with the Rice community — especially those seeing a lion dance for the first time.
“We’ve been performing at the CSA LNY Gala ever since they started again after COVID, and I’m pretty sure the club also performed before COVID,” Nguyen, a Duncan senior, said. “Being able to share our culture and lion dancing with people who may have never seen it before is really exciting.”
Karen Zheng, the other Rice Lions’ co-president, said the group’s hard work culminated in adding an elevated table routine this year. Performers leapt up and down from table platforms during the dance.
“Our club revived two years ago, so the most experience that any of our members have is two years,” Zheng, a Baker College senior, said. “This year, we’ve finally gotten enough skill to perform an elevated tables routine, which is really exciting. I’m super proud of my team for coming this far in our skill set.”
Alongside Rice Lions’ acrobatic display, the gala featured a range of other performances highlighting different facets of Asian culture.
Acts included a fan dance by the Vietnamese Student Association, a separate dragon dance by the Rice Taiwanese Association, modern K-pop numbers by Basyk and Rice Dance Theatre and, for the first time, live music by the North American Youth Chinese Orchestra.
“I think one of my favorite parts was the Chinese Youth Orchestra,” Zeng said. “We don’t usually have external guests like that … It was cool to bring a bit of traditional Chinese culture in, and it was great to see them well-received by the crowd.”
Many students said seeing friends perform on the big stage was a highlight of the evening.
“I am most excited to see some of my friends perform,” Matt Banschbach, a Sid Richardson senior, said.
Sid Richardson junior Olivia Jin agreed and said she most enjoyed how cultural showcases bring people together.
“I think seeing my friends perform is gonna be really exciting,” Jin said. “I think [the Lunar New Year gala] really introduces people to a huge part of Asian culture … It’s kind of unifying because we have people representing all of these different cultures, and we get to really learn more about each other.”
CSA’s leadership said they hope offering a platform for these diverse groups encourages cross-cultural collaboration and fosters a sense of solidarity within Rice’s Asian community.
“I think the Lunar New Year showcase has always been a way for the Asian community at Rice to celebrate and showcase their cultural heritage,” He said. “A lot of different groups perform work they do throughout the year … It’s a big opportunity for us to come together and learn more about each other’s backgrounds.”
Zeng also said the event’s success hinged on both months of behind-the-scenes work and the enthusiastic support of the Rice community.
“Being able to serve people in that way and share our culture … That’s the part I’m most excited for,” Zeng said.
[2/16/2025 3:40 p.m.: A previous version of this article misspelled Karen Zheng’s last name. This article has been corrected.]
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