Friday, the Taiwanese Student Association held its annual Lunar New Year dinner.

The night roared into action with excited chatter as students filed into the Chinook 150 for a game-filled celebration.

As students checked into the event and proceeded inside, each person received a goodie bag with candy to enjoy. Attendees also received a name tag with a number for identifying prize winners later in the event. 

The event, decorated with red paper lanterns and decor hung from the walls and the ceiling, exuded a lively atmosphere and tables filled with students and community members who eagerly awaited the celebration.

After getting comfortable in their seats, hosts of the event Fang Yu Lim (Fiona), senior data analytics major, and senior bioengineering major, Josh Tu, began the evening’s festivities.

The Lunar New Year is also called “Chinese New Year” and the “Spring Festival,” according to the presentation by Lim and Tu.

The celebration originates from a legendary monster named Nian. People set off fireworks to scare away the Nian and bring in the new year, according to the presentation. 

Following the introduction of the tradition, members of TSA introduced the five different regions of Taiwan. Each region was explained by members who hailed from the area. 

“I liked the presentation on the different parts of Taiwan, that was really cool, cause I don’t really know a lot about Taiwan, I’m not from there, so I think having different people present who are from the different parts of Taiwan was really cool.” said WSU freshman chemistry major, Sofia Quiroga (she/he/they). 

In between the presentation and the night market portion of the event, TSA presented attendees with the first raffle drawing of the night. Fifteen red envelopes were given to those whose number was drawn. 

As the event transitioned into the night market portion, tables with 10 different games and activities for people to enjoy were scattered throughout the room. Games included a marble chopstick game, a rolling marble game, a ping pong ball maze and many others. 

At each station, you had the chance to win raffle tickets for the end-of-the-night raffle drawing. The more games you played, the more tickets you got and the more opportunities you had to win prizes. 

Lim ran a bean bag toss game and watched every round as the target cans scattered all around the floor. 

“I am enjoying myself very much; it’s nice to see everyone enjoying and having fun,” Lim said. “I’m busy scrambling to get my cans over there and make sure they’re not lost.”

At the end of the night, after the raffle had concluded and all prizes were in the hands of lucky raffle winners, attendees and TSA members and volunteers gathered together for a group photo to end the night. 

Each person was sent off a good night and safe travels as they left with bento boxes and bubble tea catered by Iron Wok, a Chinese cuisine restaurant located in Moscow. 

As TSA members cleaned up at the end of the festive event, participants left with wide smiles, eager to enjoy the dish. 

“Bubble tea is the highlight,” said WSU alum Calinin O’Malley. “But also I really love that we got to learn more about Chinese new year and Taiwan specifically at the beginning, and I learned a lot already.” 

Lim said the TSA wants people to take away that Chinese New Year is about celebration and having fun.