Students across campus celebrated the Chinese New Year and welcomed the year of the dragon for the first time in 12 years Sunday evening. About 50 students gathered at the Asian American Cultural Center for a party organized by the Overseas China Education Foundation, or OCEF. This was the first time the growing organization has thrown a New Year’s celebration.

Students played traditional Chinese games — such as bianselong, meaning “chameleon,” and mahjong — as they watched the Chinese New Year’s festivals on television and ate traditional Chinese foods. Attendees ate dumplings, noodles, fried rice and rice cakes, or nian gao, which roughly translates to “grow tall this year,” said Weijia “Gary” Luo, outreach coordinator for OCEF and freshman in Engineering. He said children are often told to eat their rice cakes if they want to grow up to be tall and strong.

Luo said 60 to 70 percent of people in China watch the celebration on television to see festivals around the country and watch performances by the country’s most famous musicians, such as Jay Chou.

“It’s probably the most important festival in China,” said Lingyi Meng, president of OCEF and senior in LAS. “It’s when family members get together and celebrate.”

She compared the event to Thanksgiving or Christmas in the United States.

“Most of (the University’s Chinese students) don’t have family to get together with, so we have this event for Chinese people to celebrate,” Meng said.

She added that some of her friends have yet to move back to campus in order to celebrate in China with their friends and families.

Kaiyue Hou, outreach coordinator for OCEF and sophomore in LAS, said each of the 12 years calls for different feng shui layouts.

Luo said families might buy crystals or alter their home’s design to change its look to accommodate the current year.

Hou said the dragon is regarded “as a really strong and powerful creature.”

She added that people celebrating their animal zodiac year usually do something special for it. She said in the case of the year of the dragon, wearing red would make that person stronger and more fortunate throughout the year.

OCEF also had various items on sale Sunday evening to raise funds for the group’s primary purpose — to assist students living in rural China and allow them to attend grade school. Luo said the University’s branch of OCEF — formed in 2006 — sends these funds to the foundation’s headquarters, where they then distribute the funds to students with the most need. He said the group’s primary fundraiser is a benefit dinner held every February. OCEF collects donations from local Chinese restaurants and then sells tickets to the dinner.