Here’s how the Chinese Students and Scholars Union is a home away from home for many

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On Feb. 16, 2018, the K- State Chinese Students and Scholars Union and the K-State Confucius Institute celebrated the Chinese New Year at McCain Auditorium with an array of performances, from traditional music and dance to hard rock music. (File photo by Olivia Bergmeier | Collegian Media Group)

The Chinese Students and Scholars Union gives Chinese students, who make up more than 40 percent of the international student population, a home at Kansas State through events and fellowship.

This year, under the leadership of a new chairman Qiang Zheng, junior in fine arts, the student organization looks forward to the upcoming events and festivals in the works over the course of the academic year, said Li Wang, vice chairman of the CSSU and graduate student in electrical engineering.

The first event will be K-State’s own rendition of the Mid-Autumn Festival, which will feature a garden party in the K-State Student Union.

Traditionally the festival, which falls on Sept. 24 in 2018, is a celebration of friends and family and involves a gathering to eat food like moon cakes.

“The significance of the Mid-Autumn Festival to me is that the family is [around and] gather together to chat and enjoy the moon,” said Yanshan Yu, junior in marketing and member of the CSSU. “However, if you can’t spend a holiday with your family abroad, you will feel quite lonely.”

Li Wang said events like the Mid-Autumn Festival serve as a way to educate people both on and off campus about different elements related to Chinese culture.

Since the festival will take place in the Union, it gives the CSSU an opportunity to show the K-State family that China is not just a country on the other side of the globe, but a community that breathes into Manhattan, Li Wang said.

The CSSU’s Mid-Autumn Festival Garden Party will be held in the K-State Student Union Sept. 24-28.

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