Chinese club comes to life

March 12, 2013 — by Catherine Tang and Ingrid Hong

In early January, junior Cathy Guo and her friends were sitting in Chinese teacher Sara Tseng’s room when they came up with the idea of Chinese Club.

In early January, junior Cathy Guo and her friends were sitting in Chinese teacher Sara Tseng’s room when they came up with the idea of Chinese Club. Because Guo and her friends all speak the language and often eat lunch in Tseng’s room, they decided to form a club celebrating their culture. 
“I want the [founders of the club] to learn about the students from our school’s cultures since they haven’t been exposed to students of different ethnicities in the past,” Tseng said.
Chinese Club hosts meetings on Thursdays during lunch in room 409, where members enjoy Chinese food and participate in a variety of activities. 
“We want to promote awareness of Chinese culture while providing enjoyable activities for our members to do,” said Guo.
Guo and her friends all moved here from China in the past few years. They grew up in Shanghai, Guangzhou and various other provinces, which provides a greater variety of Chinese culture, just as Southerners and people from the Silicon Valley have cultural differences.
“My friends and I are all Chinese and we just moved here from China last year or a few years ago, so we know a lot about Chinese culture and want to share it with others,” Guo said.
For the second club meeting on Feb. 14, Guo and her friends organized a Chinese New Year’s celebration. They provided a variety of native food, including fried rice and dumplings, and some crafts, such as paper snakes in honor of the year of the snake.
By next year, the club hopes to offer community service opportunities for their members to participate in, such as helping people with language barriers.
“We hope to not only have fun, but to help others in the community,” Guo said.
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