By Ani Mecca ’27
Staff Writer
On Feb. 13, 2026, Mount Holyoke ushered in the Chinese New Year with China Night, an annual celebration that brings together the campus community for a night of Chinese culture and food.
Also known as the Spring Festival or Lunar New Year, this holiday marked the beginning of the Year of the Horse for several countries including China, Vietnam and Korea, as well as their global diasporas.
During China Night, the new year was welcomed in Chapin Auditorium, adorned with red lanterns and banners containing messages of good fortune and happiness. Organized by the Chinese Cultural Association — abbreviated as CCA — the main elements of the event included a dinner of dishes traditionally eaten during the new year, as well as a litany of performances.
This year’s show highlighted many aspects of Chinese artistic expression and culture, and featured songs, dances, martial arts, traditional instruments such as the pipa — a Chinese lute —, diabolo — Chinese yo-yo — tricks and a fashion show.
A notable element of this year’s event was the participation of many acts from the Five College Consortium and local surrounding area, including UMass Amherst’s Illusions Dance Team, Plus86 Dance Crew and TASC, as well as the Shaolin Kung Fu Center of Hadley.
The show was inspired by the Spring Festival Gala, or Chunwan, a television program broadcasted annually from China and enjoyed by Chinese communities around the world.
The Spring Gala Festival serves a particular purpose: “We have a tradition in China … to stay up late until the next year comes, and that’s the way we guard our good luck,” Cindy Zhang ’28, vice-chair and photography coordinator of CCA, said in an interview with Mount Holyoke News.
With China Night, CCA aims to create a version of this experience at Mount Holyoke, “to let Chinese students who share this specific culture to enjoy and to feel like they’re home.”
But it’s also a chance to reimagine the typically state-produced Spring Festival Gala. “[We want to] negotiate around the performances that are being consumed, and we sort of want to exercise more of our agency to do the celebration in the way that we want to do it,” Tiffany Lai ’28, design coordinator of CCA, said.
Preparations for China Night began in November, with CCA responsible for auditioning performers, selecting emcees — who are an important part of the traditional Spring Gala Festival — and rehearsing the acts multiple times.
The dishes are also an important yet hectic part of the planning process. “It’s really a challenge to buy [food] and serve two-hundred-plus [people],” Winnie Wu ’28, chair of CCA, said.
The food is served not just to the large audience, but also to the performers, emcees, crew and team members of CCA. “So it’s really hard to consider what to buy, and what not to consider,” Wu said.
This year, dinner included dishes such as sweet and sour pork, spicy garlic fish, and fried potato strips, among many other options. “This year we tried to have more diverse food, like vegan food and non-spicy food,” Wu said.
The atmosphere of China Night was joyful and exciting, but it also provided an opportunity to meaningfully address issues of inclusion regarding Mount Holyoke’s Asian student population.
“CCA is not just an association for people to share and spread culture, but also a community to provide a safe space for Chinese students … to feel safe and be seen and heard,” Zhang said in a speech delivered at the event.
“After the show, one of our members came to me, and she said she had water in her eyes when she heard me … she was really touched by my little speech,” Zhang recalled.
China Night is also a time for connection among Mount Holyoke’s wider community. The event “has a long history, so it’s [one of the] most important experiences for Chinese students here,” Carolina Yao ’28, social media coordinator of CCA, said.
“I've seen, for example … alums who came back just for China Night, and professors,” Lai said.
This year, with the inclusion of more performers from the other institutions in the Five College Consortium and the Pioneer Valley, China Night brought together an even larger group.
“I feel like it’s also a bridge of connections,” Winnie Wu said. “I think it’s definitely a real bond between all these communities, whether from South Hadley or Northampton … and also within Mount Holyoke itself.”
Quill Nishi-Leonard ’27 contributed fact-checking.