The Chinese Language and Culture Club (CLCC) celebrated Tomb-Sweeping Day on April 6. The Qingming Festival is an important holiday on the lunar calendar, occurring on April 5. It combines two elements: honoring ancestors and celebrating spring’s arrival.
The event in the Modern Languages Center featured an informational presentation about the history and customs of Qingming. Students were then able to sample tea and traditional snacks while they completed crafts with colored construction paper.
Xiaoqing Liu, a professor of Chinese and faculty advisor for the CLCC for over a decade, explained that in Chinese, ‘qing’ means clear and ‘ming’ means bright or shining.
The festival is often celebrated with a trip to the rural countryside to visit ancestors, leave items for their graves and have a dialogue with them. It is a family tradition and a connection with the past. The Qingming festival is also a ringing in of spring, where children fly kites. People enjoy foods like qingtuan, green sticky dumplings made of rice and mugwort, and sanzi, fried dough twists.
“It has a lot of different meanings,” Liu said. “It’s not only the sadness, it’s also not only the past. It also starts something new.”
The CLCC hosts many events every semester based around Chinese culture, including a Mid-Autumn Festival, Lunar New Year celebration and movie nights featuring Chinese films. Liu enjoys seeing what the club members are interested in, concerning Chinese culture.
“I like to see [how] they grow on their own,” Liu said. “They explore things on their own.”
Liu feels that learning is also important outside of the classroom. She values experiences and exploring new areas that are unfamiliar. In her role as a professor, she often finds students limiting themselves to what they know.
“I suggest college students be a little more open-minded,” Liu said. “Take a little risk to explore something you don’t know. You’ll be surprised. It’s a really good learning experience.”
Henry Williams, a senior physics and motorsport engineering dual major, took Chinese language classes in high school for four years. That experience helped to draw him to the Qingming event, where he learned to make a paper kite. Williams said cultural events help to expose college students to new experiences.
“[With] Butler being a liberal arts school, it’s important to broaden your horizons,” Williams said. “I know a lot of people come from the Midwest and aren’t immersed in much culture outside of their own, so having an opportunity to get at least a sliver of that culture is important to be more well-rounded.”
Senior physics major Jackson Mollencupp had never attended any events related to Chinese culture before, but enjoyed getting to learn new things through the experience. Mollencupp agreed with Williams about students expanding their horizons.
“I feel like every cultural event is important,” Mollencupp said. “You learn about other cultures [from your own].”