On the day of change

By Amy Carr
The Berkshire Eagle
Thursday, February 07

A small red envelope lay on the table before Chandler Wang, and for a moment America felt like home.

Inside a classroom at Bard College at Simon's Rock, the 17-year-old's eyes glistened like dancing lanterns as he picked up the festive pouch gilded and embossed with Chinese symbols.

Congratulations and make a lot of money.

The envelope's greeting is a popular one for the celebration of the Chinese New Year, or Spring Festival, which starts today. But, devoid of the gift of money traditionally found inside, the red rectangle served as another reminder that Chandler will spend the year's most important holiday away from family.

"The Spring Festival is one of the most important festivals in China," Chandler said, noting red envelopes with generous amounts of money are given to unmarried young people. "We don't get to see our family all the time, so it's the main time when all of the family gets together. I brought my Web cam (to the United States) so all my relatives will see me this year."

Chandler is one of three freshman Chinese students enrolled at Simon's Rock and has been living in Massachusetts for five months. Following a trip to Iowa for an American New Year's celebration, he says it will be tough to miss out on dinners and gatherings with friends and family during the festival of year 4706, which kicks off today.

The Spring Festival traditionally begins on the first day of the first lunar month in the Chinese calendar and ends on the 15th day with the Lantern Festival. Because the holiday starts on the first day of the Gregorian calendar containing a new moon, its date changes from year to year. Last year's festival began Feb. 18 and celebrated the year of the Pig. Today begins the year of the Rat, the next of the 12 presiding animals in the zodiac cycle.

John Weinstein was born on the first day of Chinese New Year in 1971. He likes to think that is why he became a Chinese language professor at Simon's Rock. Weinstein has recently returned from sabbatical in Taiwan and is doing his part to bring Chinese New Year to Massachusetts.

"Last year, we held a big banquet for the Chinese and language students at Koi (Chinese Restaurant) with a special menu," he said. "I try to find out from the students what they want to do. And we want to do things that resonate and instigate Chinese language and culture across the campus."

Along with a festive feast of traditional new year foods such as dumplings, fish and longevity noodles, Weinstein said students will participate in a campuswide game the language class began in 2007, the year of the Pig. In the weeks before the special dinner, students compete to teach the most faculty and students to count to ten in Chinese. Each person taught earns students points, and certain campus personalities are "worth more" than others.

"Our Provost loves it because she is worth a lot of points," he said. "And freshman get more points for teaching a senior and things like that. It really helps to promote Chinese on campus."

Chinese exchange students

While Weinstein attempts to bring Chinese culture to Simon's Rock, last week Eastern culture came to the Great Barrington campus. Two dozen Chinese exchange students from Stissing Mountain High School in Pine Plains, N.Y., met with the Chinese language students for a day of touring and talking.

Pine Plains program organizer Karen Pogoda said groups of high school students like the one from Nanjing, China have been visiting Simon's Rock for 10 years.

"It gives students learning Chinese an opportunity to meet people who already know Chinese," said Pogoda, who lives in Great Barrington. "And it's great for our students to travel around Berkshire County. Many of them have never traveled away from home, and with the New Year being a big family time, we try to take advantage of some new experiences."

Chinese language students

Ann Burchfield, a Chinese language student, said she had never experienced Chinese New Year before coming to Simon's Rock.

"In Texas, where I'm from, no one even knows what (Chinese New Year) is," said Burchfield, 20, sitting next to Chandler in a classroom. "I'd never really done anything for it before the banquet we had last year, but it is really cool."

Chandler plans to attend the New Year banquet and meet up with the other Chinese students at Simon's Rock for this year's Lunar Festival.

He hopes the whirlwind of American culture will be enough to make him forget he won't spend time with his family or get a red envelope full of money.

"My family will get together and watch a special program on the National Channel and dance and sing," he said. "I brought my Web cam so my parents will contact me and all of my relatives will see me. But I probably won't even notice that I'm missing it because of all of the exciting things here, like the Super Bowl."