Students far away from home found a family to celebrate with for the Chinese New Year.
Students, faculty and community members came to the Chinese Student Association celebration that had tables of food, music and conversation. By 5:30 p.m. on Sunday, more than a dozen people were flattening, filling and folding up dumplings.
"It's a very tedious process," President Xiaojing Cheng said. "It's family time for everyone to talk and joke and relax."
The dumpling table sat in the middle of the room, and the workers used an assembly line process to prepare them. People made the dough, others rolled it out and then everyone was invited to fill it with cabbage and pork filling.
Cheng estimated more than 1,000 dumplings were made. She said she hoped there would be enough for each person to have 15. People shared dishes they brought from home to accompany the dumplings.
This was the largest turnout in several years, attendees said. Eve with more than 50 people, there was food for everyone.
Families traditionally gather for the New Year to remember past family members, Vice President Lin Ma said. In China, it is beautiful at night on the New Year because people play with fireworks, he said. They cannot do that here though.
Besides eating, participants were entered in a drawing for 25 red envelopes containing a few dollars each.
"The amount is not much at all," Cheng said. "We want to give as many as we can. It's wrapped in red, and red colors are considered to be happy and lucky in Buddhism."
While many of the people were Chinese, other members of the international and Ball State community came to the celebration, either for class or for friends.
"My roommate is from China," freshman Eric Mowery said. "There's such an awesome potential for students here at Ball State with the variety of students from different cultures."
Even Chinese students like senior Bernice Liang learned new things. She helped make dumplings, although she said she had only done it once before. She didn't have a dish to bring, so she helped fill and fold the dumplings, she said.
She also does an American New Year tradition for the Chinese New Year.
"I usually make a resolution," Liang said. "This year it's to do at least 10 push-ups and sit-ups a night. I did it yesterday at midnight."
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