China Night rings in Year of the Tiger

The event returned for the first time in three years.

By Megan Donohue

Published Feb. 16, 2010

The Friendship Association of Chinese Students and Scholars organized MU's fourth China Night to celebrate the Year of the Tiger, in which a set of 18 acts mixed contemporary and classic Chinese culture.

The performance, 7 p.m. Saturday at Jesse Auditorium, was free of charge, and MU students and members of the Chinese community almost completely produced it.

After a few performances, Chancellor Brady Deaton got on stage and welcomed the crowd before saying a few words about his connections with China and his excitement about attending the performance.

Many of the performances presented or incorporated dancing, including a group of six young girls performing "Girls on a Hill," a Dai ethnic dance called "Silhouette in the Bamboo Grove," a solo dance by Nan Hao entitled "Illumination," a Tibetan ethnic dance called "Silk Road" and a girls' hip-hop group dancing to a medley of popular songs.

Guoquan Zhang, an assistant professor in the College of Veterinary Medicine who is originally from China, brought his family to see the show and said he enjoyed the dancing most.

"New Years is a big event in China," Zhang said. "They have a good show so we are very happy."

Several of the dances also incorporated martial arts, such as "Sword Lily," which mixed femininity and masculinity, said the presenters, Xue Dong, Christy Lewis, Xin Meng and Matt Velker.

Several singers also performed, including guest scholar from Chongqing University, Yan Chen, who sang "An Oriental Jasmine for You," a local band of five students, the West Junior High School Delphian Choir, which sang "Flower Drum Song" and "Magnificent Horses" and Haiying Zhou singing "Beijing Opera: The Drunken Concubine."

Chen said she has been singing for more than 30 years but has been preparing for this performance for three months. "It went wonderful," Chen said.

In addition, five students sang a medley of four Chinese pop songs. These students had won a karaoke singing contest before tryouts for China Night began in October 2009.

"We didn't tell them we would give them an opportunity to perform on China Night," said Fei Gao, president of FACSS and event director.

Also mixed in were several cultural performances, including "A Story of Diabolo," by Chris Chen, "Chinese Crosstalk," by Matt Velker and Zheng Zhong, "Magic Show: Close-up Illusion," by Ares Zhu and "Chinese Martial Arts."

"A Story of Diabolo" was organized by the MU Taiwanese Students Association and featured a traditional Chinese game called Diabolo where a spool is twirled and tossed on a string tied to two sticks.

Chen received a large audience reaction by performing a mix of tricks, even using three spools at once.

Students Ruohan Xu and Yiming Zhang performed "Dance of the Yao" on Guzheng, an ancient, plucked, Chinese instrument.

Yiming Zhang has been playing the Guzheng since she was six.

"It went really smooth and everything was much better than we expected," Zhang said. "The audience really cooperated with us so we really appreciated that."

The emcees taught the audience how to say, "Where is the bathroom," "I'm hungry" and "I love you," in Chinese, a volunteer was chosen by catching a stuffed tiger for the magic show and the crosstalk comedy show prompted audience approval and involvement.

China Night was first presented in 2004, then again in 2006 and 2007.

"After three years long waiting we finally brought China Night back," Gao said.

This is the first year China Night has been streamed live online.

"I think it is pretty great," Gao said. "There are 1,700 people, and it's almost full. We also had like 1,600 visitors on online streaming."