February is a big month for both Americans and Chinese—the Superbowl for Americans and the New Year for the Chinese.  Chinese New Year is a very important festival for the Chinese because it is a preparation to enter a brand-new year, and families always gather for reunions. Being far from China during Chinese New Year can be emotionally hard for Chinese students.

The Chinese students at Montrose are not able to go home due to the limited time and long distance between China and America.  However, they had a small but meaningful celebration too during February vacation.

The six current Chinese students went to Chinatown in Boston to celebrate Chinese New Year during vacation.  They selected a restaurant guaranteed to have real gourmet Chinese food, and they had a big dinner together to welcome a new year.   

Most Chinese students studying abroad miss home a lot at this time every year since family reunions are the most common ways Chinese families celebrate this special festival. The importance of Chinese New Year for Chinese families is like Christmas is to Americans, so being far from home adds to homesickness.

The youngest international student Janice Liu ‘21 said, “I miss home a lot, especially at this time when my family is having a big celebration in China.  But I am happy to have a different experience with the other Chinese students at Montrose.”  Zihan Sun ’19 commented, “I am very happy to celebrate Chinese New Year with my friends.  This is very meaningful, I had some real Chinese food, chatted with my friends, and went to Chinese market to buy some ingredients.”  

Pico Peng ’17 said, “This is a new experience for all of us.  It is very fun, and I am very happy to welcome a New Year with my friends.”  The Chinese students not only had Chinese foods but also shared their own experiences on cooking in America.  They all felt really lucky to celebrate Chinese New Year all together in America.   

This year is Year of Monkey in Chinese calendar, which is also the ninth of the 12-year circle of animals that appears in the Chinese Zodiac.  The Chinese Zodiac is an ancient Chinese classification system that assigns one of the 12 animals to each year.  The twelve animals include rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog and pig.  People often relate them to the constellations because they both have 12 different classifications according to the astrology and people regard them as a way to represent themselves.  Chinese people not only assign animal to each year, but they also assign animal to each day and each month.  Each animal symbolizes different characteristics of each person born under these signs and symbols.  People who are born in the Year of Monkey are regarded as clever and astute.  But generally speaking, the Chinese zodiac is just way to count years.