The 16th of February marked the beginning of the New Year, according to the Chinese calendar. This year is the “Year of the Dog”.
The 16th of February marked the beginning of the New Year, according to the Chinese calendar. This year is the “Year of the Dog”.
There is a large community of Chinese students in Lund. In occasion of the Chinese New Year, they organized gatherings in the student dorms or private accommodations where the guests had the opportunity to taste traditional food and learn something more about this event.
Only this academic year, Lund University (LU) has welcomed around two-hundred people coming from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, according to the International Desk.
Depending on region, there are some changes in celebrating the New Year.
“At Hong Kong, we go the week before New Year to the flower market to buy fresh flowers and New Year products: they usually have the face of the animal guide of the incoming year printed on packets or can”, says Kin Kong Wong, a Master student in European Studies.
There are also common traditions, such as wearing only new clothes and possibly red ones and decorate the house with Chinese letters to hang on windows, doors and walls.
“We usually celebrate New Year with the closest relatives. We stay at home, or sometimes we go to restaurant”, says Javin Chan, an exchange student in Environmental Engineering.
Celebrating New Year far from home does not represent a big issue to them.
“It is not the first time I am abroad during this period of the year. Wherever I am, my family always send me a packet for New Year’s celebration. The only problem I faced here was finding New-Year products at the Asian Market in Malmo. But I manged to get rice balls and it is fine”, says Kin Kong Wong.
At one of the student dorms in Lund, international students joined the Chinese New Year’s celebrations as well.
“It is good to meet new people and to try food which is totally different from Indonesia”, says Dryza Sativa, who studies a Master in Accounting and Finance.
