Lunar New Year is celebrated in many countries around the world, including China, Vietnam and Korea, as well as by many people who are ethnically from these countries but who now reside elsewhere. This year is 4707 in the lunar calendar, and also the year of the tiger according to Chinese astrology.

To celebrate, many people will cook special foods that hold symbolic meaning, such as noodles for long life, tangerines and oranges for wealth and properity, and whole fish for abundance and togetherness. Oftentimes, these symbols are based on a play off of similar sounding words, such as long noodles (chang mian) and long life (chang ming), which is why it is considered bad luck to cut your noodles!

This year, the Hoch-Shanahan produced a host of delicious Chinese food, including whole fried fish, Peking duck, and a mound of tangerines. Also, we had our very own dragon dance performed by HMC students.

Source: Harvey Mudd College Communications

Students (left to right): Joseph Min, Millie Fung, Vincent Pai, Erin Partlan, Simeon Koh, Allie McDonnell, My Ho, Zewei Wang, Johnathan Chai and Steven Ning