As the line for the Lunar New Year Family Dinner snaked around Zubrow Commons, Haitong Lian ’27 was relieved and overwhelmed.
“At first, I was worried that nobody would come,” says Lian, a co-head of Global Chinese Connection (GCC), which organized the event, “but then I became nervous because I didn’t know if we had enough food for everyone.”
GCC planned for around 60 people to attend, but around 90 people decided to slither in. According to the Chinese Zodiac, 2025 is the Year of the Snake and is associated with shedding the skin of the previous year.
“Most people are very nostalgic during the New Year because you are reminded of what happened last year at this time and how you celebrated when you were younger,” Lian says.
A Beijing native, Lian’s celebrations at home typically consist of a family dinner, firecrackers, and viewing the Spring Gala, a televised program of dances, musical performances, comedy, and other events. Begun in 1983, the Spring Gala has emerged as an important vehicle for those overseas and those in China to feel connected to one another. For Lian’s and many other Chinese families, watching the Spring Gala is an annual ritual.
Although she was away from the extravagant floats and decorations of her hometown, GCC’s event allowed Lian and others to connect to China and their heritage. “Every year at this time, I feel like is when everyone gathers together, and we generate a new family in the U.S., where we share the same culture and we all miss our home,” she says.
The Lunar New Year is arguably the most visible Chinese cultural event of the year, and it allows GCC to showcase China to a much broader audience. “This event is a great opportunity to show our culture because Chinese New Year is probably one of the few things Americans know about China,” says Lian.
This new year, GCC’s celebration and others in and around the Philadelphia region were particularly joyous. After two years of fighting the proposed development of a basketball arena, Philadelphia’s Chinatown will remain intact after the 76ers announced they will stay in South Philadelphia.
In previous years, GCC has connected with Philadelphia Chinatown’s history and community through field trips and other cultural events. The club’s goal is to celebrate and share Chinese culture with Haverford community. In 2023, the club organized the “Our Roots” event and VCAM exhibit, which enabled Asian students for students to design t-shirts to celebrate their names and their meanings. In previous years, the group has organized movie nights and events around sharing food from Xi’an and Guangdong.
“GCC is a great platform to demonstrate that Chinese culture is not just about dumplings and dragons and other stereotypical things but that it’s so much deeper than that,” says Lian.