Of the many festivals of the Chinese community, none is perhaps as important to the Chinese as the Chinese New Year. It is a celebration of spring, of joy and most importantly, of new beginnings. On the 3rd of March 2013, The Malaysian Chinese Students Community of VSMU held its annual Chinese New Year Celebration.

Preparations for the event began months before with the formation of the organizing committee in December 2012. Planning for the event took place over the next few months with every detail of the event carefully planned out and scrutinized by the committee. The event itself was successful with nearly 300 guests in attendance comprising of Malaysian students in Volgograd and the curator of the Malaysian students Vladislav Goncharenko.

The event was split into two sessions with the first beginning at 10.30 a.m. for the Chinese Community and the second beginning at 12.30 p.m. for all Malaysians. The first session started with a speech by the organizing chairman, Mr. Ker Jin Hoong followed by the presentation of tokens of appreciation to members of the organizing committee. After that, all members in attendance were invited to perform a traditional ceremony called ‘Lao Sheng’ to signify the hope for continued prosperity enjoyed by all those in attendance.

Following the ‘Lao Sheng’ ceremony, guests were asked to have a seat and the event proceeded with a round of lucky draw with three prizes given out to three lucky souls. The lucky draw was followed by a games session with two games – telephone and empty your pockets. Guests were divided into teams of eight forming five teams in total. Prizes were prepared for the two teams with the highest score. The first session ended at 12 p.m.

The second session began with a slideshow presentation reminiscing past celebrations. Next, the president of the Malaysian Students’ Association, Mr. Syed Aidid was invited to give a speech followed by a speech by MCSC’s own president, Mr. Goldon Molling and curator Mr. Vladislav Goncharenko. Then we all were entertained by a band performance of Jason Mraz’s “I’m Your’s” led by Dennis Boon and his team.

Next was symbolize prosperity ‘Lao Sheng’ among our respected curator and students’ presidents. Then, followed by a stunning traditional dance performance.

Without crazy laughers and humour, life is a dull journey to walk upon. Media team showed us their marvelous acting video presentation on the traditions associated with Chinese New Year.

Before the end of the event, a surprise was in store for all in attendance with members of the audience suddenly bursting into songs. This was in actuality, a planned performance by the committee to signify the unity of Malaysians as a people as those who sang were of different cultural backgrounds.

With that, at about 2.00 p.m. the event ended with photography sessions and sure enough, everyone was seemingly entertained and had a good time.

Ker Jin Hoong, 4th year student of General Medicine Faculty,
Project Manager of 2013 Chinese New Year Celebration