Night Market brings Taiwanese tradition to Ray’s Courtyard
Colorful strings of paper lanterns and glowing lights hung over Ray’s Courtyard amid bustling games April 13, as the Rice Taiwanese Association hosted their annual Night Market.
Over 400 students flocked to the Central Quad to enjoy a vibrant evening filled with Taiwanese food, activities and cultural immersion.
Attendees sampled authentic Taiwanese dishes such as popcorn chicken, stir-fried noodles, dumplings and boba. Matt Banschbach, a Sid Richardson College senior, said the event — and the food — brought back memories from his time studying abroad.
“I love Taiwanese food, and this is the only place I can get Taiwanese sausage,” Banschbach said. “Night markets are such a big part of the Taiwanese experience, and this event captures a lot of the fundamentals — like eating while standing in line, the crowded atmosphere and especially the community aspect.”
Sarah Zeng, a junior from Lovett College, said she appreciated the event’s inclusivity and accessibility.
“There is no high barrier to entry, and people feel very welcome coming here and trying out different cultural foods,” Zeng said. “I feel like it’s a pretty common theme with Rice events, and I feel like [Night Market] is a really good example of that.”
Wei-Li Hsu, a lecturer in Chinese, highlighted the welcoming spirit of the organizers and the authenticity they bring to campus.
“Those RTA officials here, they are very friendly, just like [the] Taiwanese,” Hsu said. “So usually for foreigners [who] visit Taiwan, they think [the] Taiwanese are very friendly and willing to help others.”
Despite its lively atmosphere, the event faced logistical and financial challenges. Jonathan Chang, co-president of RTA and a Brown College senior, said securing funding was especially difficult this year.
“Rice, in general, has been having issues being able to fund clubs and also diversity initiatives,” Chang said. “We’re a club that’s under the [Office of Access and Institutional Excellence], and that’s how our finances are managed. We expected like $4,000 [from the Student Activities/President’s Programming Fund] ... we got our funding late. We were able to get $2,000 — honestly less than we expected.”
To address this issue, RTA reached out to external sources such as the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Houston.
In addition to food, attendees engaged in various games that brought friendly competition. Traditional games like jianzi — a game where players kick a weighted shuttlecock — and ring toss were crowd favorites, alongside newer additions like sock head.
“[Sock head is] a game where you put a sock on your head,” said Mia Xie, a sophomore volunteer from Sid Rich. “It has a tennis ball at the end, and you try to knock down as many cans as you can in 45 seconds. [At] a Taiwanese night market, they always have these little games that people can participate in.”
Trisha Chinnimeni, McMurtry College junior, said she spent over an hour at the games to earn as many points as possible.
“I was trying to get a lot of points because they had Squishmallows that they were giving if you got a certain number of points,” Chinnimeni said.
While students enjoyed the market’s atmosphere, some noted differences from the authentic Taiwanese experience.
“This [night market] is in a field … over in Taiwan, it’s very narrow, kind of dense alleyways. Some of them are just on one single street that’s super packed,” Banschbach said.
Lily Remington, who has volunteered at RTA’s Night Market for four years, emphasized the event’s role in showcasing Rice’s cultural diversity.
“Rice has a pretty diverse population, but I still think that it’s easy for some people to not get the chance to, or not explore, the cultural diversity at Rice,” said Remington, a Hanszen College senior. “I think having these big events really allows people walking through the quad … [to] observe or participate to some degree, even if it’s just as a person who’s attending the event, getting food, playing the games.”
Beyond food and recreation, the Night Market serves an important educational purpose. Chang said the market helps represent Taiwanese culture beyond political contexts.
“Taiwan is mainly just known for its political strife, but I think it is a country that has a lot to offer outside of that,” Chang said.
Hsu also said she valued the role of cultural education in the event.
“The first, most important thing is [to] let people know about Taiwan,” Hsu said. “It’s not Thailand.”
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