The Chinese Lunar New Year was celebrated early by a full house of students Sunday in honor of the Feb. 9 holiday.

The Chinese Students and Scholars Friendship Association held its annual Chinese Lunar New Year Party at the Memorial Union. Through music, dance and a medley of performances, the Chinese community rang in the “Year of the Rooster.”

Each year, the Chinese student association organizes the Lunar New Year Party. Shengwang Pan, treasurer of the association, said the New Year celebration is the most important festival throughout China.

“The New Year is for the family, so people like getting together. It’s a traditional custom for us,” Pan said.

The CSSFA combines the traditions from different areas of China into one large celebration for all Chinese students to feel welcome. Performances from other cultures, like a Kenyan dance, are also showcased at the party.

One of the goals of the Chinese Students and Scholars Friendship Association is to exchange cultures and interactions among all students on campus.

“We want to make the Chinese students here more colorful,” said Shang Wenzhuo, vice president of the association. “Such a party as this is a window to spread Chinese culture.”

The student association is open to all Chinese students who are studying at Iowa State or working in the Ames area.

Its main focus is to help Chinese students overcome the culture shock of arriving in the United States and to help them adjust to their new environment.

Chang Liu, president of the association, said the most important job for the organization is first to help Chinese students adjust, and then to introduce more Chinese culture to campus.

Although most members of the group are pursuing graduate degrees, the number of undergraduate Chinese students is rising. There are more than 700 Chinese graduate students at Iowa State. Every year about 80 new students come from China.

“The U.S. does have the most appealing programs in the world,” Liu said.

The association is often busy at the beginning of the fall semester picking up Chinese students who have just arrived at the airport, helping them find apartments, grocery stores, banks and transportation.

“We are the only Chinese student organization on campus. They tend to rely very much on us because we’re the only ones they can turn to,” Liu said.

The parties, sporting events, job hunting forums and academic activities help students feel more at home as they learn about the United States, he said.