A New Year Far From Home

For many Chinese families, the Chinese New Year is surrounded by family, red decorations, and the familiar warmth of tradition. At George School, thousands of miles away from home for many international Chinese students, this important holiday assumes a different yet equally meaningful form.

Also known as the Spring Festival, Chinese New Year falls on the first day of the Chinese lunisolar calendar and celebrates reunion, fortune, and harmony. In Chinese, it is referred to as “guonian,” meaning “crossing the year.”

“This is already my second year away from home, celebrating Chinese New Year,” said Joshua Xu ’28. “Personally, I like the festive atmosphere a lot. I put spring scrolls and paper-cut art up last month, trying to make my room feel like home. This year, celebrating New Year’s Eve with other Chinese students, especially playing mahjong, made me feel that I am a part of the community and that I’m not alone here.”

A Tradition Passed Down

Each year, it is tradition for seniors to organize and host the New Year celebration in Marshall for the rest of the Chinese students on campus.

“We always look at what seniors in past years have done and build on that. It’s something that gets passed down,” said Sarah Zhu ’26.

At its heart, the celebration represents unity. “The idea of Chinese New Year is coming together in harmony — students, friends, and family sharing one space to welcome the new year,” Sarah explained.

With only nine Chinese seniors this year (compared to more than twenty last year), the responsibility felt even greater.

The Planning Behind the Celebration

Preparing a good meal for over sixty people is not an easy task, nor a cheap one. It requires budgeting, coordination, and compromise.

“The most challenging part is planning this huge event with just nine of us, meaning that we each have to pay more and do more,” said Jamie Weng ’26. Every senior paid $110 to cover the cost. 

They started planning months before the festival, and food, unsurprisingly, became central to the planning.

“Food is definitely the biggest requirement when you’re hosting that many people,” Sarah Zhu ’26 said, “ and the hardest part is making sure the food is fresh and authentically Chinese — something that really represents our culture and reminds people of home.” 

The seniors carefully considered every dish. “We wanted a balance, with vegetables, carbs, and traditional dishes that you’d normally see on a New Year’s table,” Sarah added. In the end, they decided to support a local Chinese restaurant that has been around for decades and means a lot to the Chinese community here.  

“Dumplings represent fortune and hope for the new year,” Sarah said, “They’re more than just food — they carry meaning. We couldn’t have a Chinese New Year celebration without dumplings.”

However, with the already tight budget, the senior couldn’t afford to order hundreds of dumplings from a restaurant. “We did the math and compared the prices and figured out that if we ordered all the dumplings from a restaurant, we probably would have gone broke,” Celine Ge ’26 said with a laugh.

As a result, the seniors had to cook all these dumplings themselves. With Bettye’s Place reopening, seniors could only use their own small electric pots to boil the dumplings. On Monday morning, they arrived early and prepared around 250 dumplings. Though exhausting, the effort ensured that everyone could enjoy a familiar taste of home.

Building the Atmosphere in Red

Seniors also worked hard to transform Marshall Woodfloor into a festive space. The color red — symbolizing luck and prosperity in Chinese culture — covered the space, recreating a familiar sense of the New Year atmosphere in China. 

“The color red is so important in our culture, so we filled the space with lanterns and banners to create that feeling.” Sarah Zhu ’26 explained. “We wanted students to feel the festive atmosphere the moment they stepped into Marshall.” 

Besides the red decorations, the seniors also prepared red envelopes for each student, filled with a surprise and blessing. Some envelopes were also filled with prizes and the chosen ones were given the privilege to let a senior give blessings to them or buy them bobas. 

“When I opened my red envelope and saw that I won milk tea, I was so surprised,” said Anna Shi ’28, one of the few lucky recipients. “It felt like a small piece of New Year luck, and life feels so good.”

For those without prizes, seniors wrote heartfelt blessings in each red envelope.

Harrison Yang ’29 said that “ it reminded me of the blessings and care I used to receive from my family during New Year celebrations at home.”

Harmony, Joy, and Shared Laughter

When the doors finally opened at ten, students stepped into the sea of red and greeted friends excitedly. 

“Watching them come in one by one, chatting with their friends, I felt like I was seeing myself when I was a freshman, four years ago,” Fiona Wu ’26 said. “Making them happy makes all our efforts feel worthwhile.”

For everyone, the celebration offered so much joy and excitement. Students could choose to join in a variety of activities: besides playing table football and pool, lots of them played traditional Chinese poker games and mahjong. These shared experiences were especially precious and rare during the busy school year.

“A moment that was very remarkable… was seeing everyone celebrating this significant tradition with happiness,” said Allison Yang ’29. “Everyone was playing Chinese games, singing Chinese songs, and bringing the culture together.”

Joy Liang ’28 reflected on the meaning of mahjong. “ I was able to play Majiang with other Chinese students, which I always play with my family and friends during New Year” she said, “Especially when we were far from our family, playing Majiang made us feel like family.”

Singing, Dancing, and Growing Together

After students finished eating the food, they gathered together to sing some popular Chinese songs as yet another reminder of shared memories and a connecting culture. With the disco light and waving flashlights, everyone sang together.

Celine Ge ’26, who has a beautiful voice and has performed several times on stage, performed the song “Bubble” at the karaoke. “My friend had been asking me to perform this song since my freshman year,” she said, “and doing it in my final year of high school made me realize how much I’ve grown over these years. I’m really grateful for this meaningful moment.”

After karaoke, students also took the floor to dance. Fiona Wu ’26, a talented dancer who performed “Like Jennie,” also reflected on how much she had grown. “Over the past few years, I used to watch the seniors perform and never dared to go up myself,” she said. “I was afraid I would make the atmosphere go cold. But this year, everyone — whether they knew me or not — was screaming, clapping, and lifting the energy of the room.”

“It was one of the happiest performances I’ve ever had,” she added. “I realized that when we perform K-pop dances or sing Chinese pop songs here, the audience truly understands it, because we share the same cultural background.”

More Than a Holiday

“As I watched our plan turn into reality, I felt a deep sense of belonging and a sense of home,” Jamie Weng ’26 reflected. “In these moments of generosity and collaboration, I understood why George School is recognized as ‘the given place.’” 

In a place far from home, Lunar New Year at George School became more than a holiday. It was a shared table, a mahjong game echoing with laughter, and a reminder that even across oceans, culture and community endure.