Issue 23 | Year 2015

CI NEWS 2015
028
On March 5th, Yang Xiaowen and Mo Li went to the Committee for Civil Rights at the USDA to
celebrate the Lantern Festival, the last day of the Chinese Spring Festival. The 13 members represented
a federally recognized class: race (Asian American/Pacific Islander, African American, Hispanic, Native
American/Alaska Native, etc.), sexual orientation (LGBT), women, veterans, and disabled. During the
presentation, speaking from the experience of her family, Xiaowen introduced how Chinese celebrate
the Spring Festival and Lantern Festival. Since the audience was from Department of Agriculture, she
shared the differences in regional foods and culture. Moreover, starting from the character “ 羊 ” (Lamb),
she mentioned the “ 美 ” (Beautiful), “ 祥 ” (Auspicious), “ 洋 ” (Ocean), and introduced the different ways of
forming Chinese characters to let the audience get a sense of the beauty of Chinese characters. Later, Mo
Li demonstrated and helped students to write New Year greetings with the above-mentioned characters
to have a hands-on experience of the amazing Chinese calligraphy. After the event, many participants
mentioned this event in their Facebook and Twitter accounts and the organizer wrote a letter of thanks to
give their sincere appreciation.