I would just like to start this off with a 猴年快乐 (!) to everyone. On Saturday, January 30th, International Student Services (ISS) hosted a night of festivity and fun celebrating the 2016 Lunar New Year, the year of the Monkey. For the most part, the performances and saying “Happy New Year” in various East Asian languages was a delight to watch. I am aware that here in Wisconsin, there may be a lack of exposure to a diverse number of ethnicities, races, and the plethora of varying identifications, however, that is no excuse for the discomfort I felt during the Chinese New Year portion of the event. A presentation of “Chinese culture” was given by Blue Willow Chinese Dance, with intervals of Chinese dance.

The oversimplification of Chinese history into a few slides was already a bad sign from the very beginning. If one were to come to Lawrence and present themselves as an educator on Chinese history and culture, then I will put him to the standard I would any. However, when he neglected to remember the proper way to say 天坛(Temple of Heaven), where the emperor prayed at for good harvest, peace, and atonement, I started to raise my eyebrow.

Then I realized Blue Willow's introduction mainly spoke not of the speaker, but his Chinese wife. It was she, Joy Chen, who was introduced to present Chinese dance and history. However, the actual presentation was her husband's (poorly) oversimplifying thousands of years of Chinese history, as he casually introduced and dismissed his "much more capable," and I assume, knowledgable, wife on the subject.

Now, what does that remind you of? Well to me, it seemed a whole lot like a white supremacists trying to educate whilst commodifying and fetishizing Chinese culture as "exotic." There may have been many reasons as to why he chose to disallow his wife Ms. Chen to speak at all, but if it simply was because her English is imperfect and may be slightly accented, then there's no excuse.

Now I have to move on to his costume, because someone has to address that atrocity. A costume: that’s exactly what it was. Not at all an accurate representation of what a 长衫(cheongsam), 唐装 (tangzhuang), or 汉服 (hanfu) should look like. At best, Ms. Chen’shusband’s costume resembled a hybridization of the modest cheongsam and an extravagant emperor’s clothes. Again, if you walk up on stage claiming to be a knowledgable educator on Chinese culture, history, and dance, then I will hold you up to that standard. If you come up on stage however, wearing some hybridized version of traditional Chinese clothing that could've been many's first encounter with such, then it is not simply poor fashion. It is cultural appropriation, and in especially poor taste. The clothing need not be flashy in order to draw attention to the intricate embroidery that traditional长衫(cheongsam), 唐装 (tangzhuang), and 汉服 (hanfu) have, since the spotlight was on him, and not Ms. Chen for most of the time anyways.

To not end this article on a bitter note, I wanted thank Jason (MC), Leah McSorley, ISS, and any organizers of the event. For the most part, the Lunar New Year Celebration was wonderful and heartwarming, and I am very grateful to have attended such an event. If anyone would like to hear my rant further or have concerns on this article's contents, feel free to talk to me via whatever social media you have me on.

Happy Lunar New Year everyone!

祝你们身体健康，年年有余，学业进步，万事如意.