Monday kicked off the Chinese New Year. This year marks the year of the Dragon, a representation of power, luck, and strength.

The Chinese Students and Scholars Association is presenting the Chinese Dragon Year Gala from 4:30 to 9:30 p.m. on Jan. 29.

From 4:30 to 6:30, a traditional Chinese Dinner provided by Mongolian Buffet will be served at Memorial Lutheran Church. Following the dinner, there will be a culture display in the Oak Room of the Memorial Union featuring calligraphy, traditional Chinese clothing and a tea ceremony, where participants are taught how to brew traditional Chinese tea.

After the culture display, performances begin at 7 p.m. in the Great Hall. They will cost $5 to attend. These performances include a speech from James Dorsett, director of International Students and Scholars, Chinese students singing popular Chinese and American songs including, a “cross talk” involving joke telling between two people, and Malaysian lion dancing.

According to CSSA president, Ziyu Jiang, the Chinese New Year is the biggest event in China, and because of this, many Chinese students get home sick. The gala gives them the opportunity to celebrate traditional culture far from home.

“In China, it is an occasion for people to say ‘good birth’ to each other,” said Tonglu Li, assistant professor of Chinese. “It’s an occasion for family reunion, visiting with ancestors and eating.”

Some popular food items for the holiday include dumplings, rice cakes and fish. Jiang says these items and several others will be offered at Sunday’s gala.

Ling Cai, lecturer of world languages and cultures, said dumplings are meant to represent wealth and prosperity because they are shaped like Chinese money.

Also, the word for rice cake means “higher” in Chinese, again representing prosperity.

Each year, there are different postal stamps resembling each sign of the zodiac. This year, the stamp is an image of a menacing-looking dragon.

“For a celebration, people usually don’t use this kind of monstrous image. An image of a dragon is something that can be interpreted as threatening, and China is perceived as a threat to some people here,” Li said. “Some people think it’s a message from China saying, ‘I’m becoming strong.'”

Li explained that most Western cultures view the image of a dragon as evil and monstrous, unlike China, where the dragon is a positive symbol of power. “The emperor is regarded as a true dragon, embodied,” Li said.

In previous years of the dragon, the image has been portrayed less menacing than this years image.

“The dragon is the only one [of the zodiac signs] that is not a real animal; it is legendary,” Cai said. “It represents power, luck, and strength. … During the year of the dragon people try to have their baby, for good luck.”

Legend says the beginning of the Chinese New Year started several thousand years ago with a battle against a monster called the Nian. On the first day of the New Year, Nian would come and eat livestock, crops and villagers.

It is believed that the color red and firecrackers were used to frighten away the Nian. Today, the color red is still common in celebrations of the New Year. For example, red lanterns are used, and Cai said “red packets” are filled with money by older generations and given to younger generations.

Li said that a traditional decoration called the Chun Lian is posted on both sides of doors with calligraphy of poetic phrases painted on them. Often saying “fu,” meaning fortune, these are usually hung upside down, saying “dao” meaning arrival. This upside down phrase means “the luck has arrived,” Cai said.