In honor of the Chinese New Year, the NDA Chinese Club gathered together to celebrate with a large party in the cafeteria.

The night started out with a feast of traditional Chinese cuisine prepared by the students that included spicy noodles, dumplings, stir-fry with pork and pepper, preserved duck eggs, seafood rice noodle rolls and so much more.

Following dinner was a musical performance by Ben Cao who sang in Chinese and played the guitar.

“I thought the Chinese New Year party was a lot of fun. I would say my favorite part was the food or watching people sing,” said sophomore Lily Kabat.

The night also included Taiji taught by Mrs. Jane Hall, theology teacher and Chinese student, and games such as ping pong, musical chairs, rip-off-the-name-tag and karaoke.

“My favorite part was that students learned Taiji in 10 minutes! Each year we add something new while keeping the fun parts. I am happy to see students enjoy doing Taiji with the fans,” said Mrs. Zhang, Chinese teacher and club moderator.

The New Year Party was also organized by Brenda Aguilar and Diego Mendoza, senior leaders in the club.

Chinese New Year is celebrated on a different day than the American New Year because the Chinese base their calendar on the moon.

Every Chinese New Year is named the year of an animal based off a legend which formed the zodiac calendar.

There are twelve animals in total, including the horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog, pig, rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon and snake.

This Chinese New Year is the year of the rooster, and according to the legend people who are born this year will always be on time, be reliable, independent and fond of attention.

More than 45 students attended the celebration.

“I thought it was a lot of fun, and I thought it was interesting to partake in some other customs that I would’ve never been able to experience,” said sophomore James Kanning.