The Chinese Culture Club at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point is hosting the fifth annual Lantern Festival on Sunday, February 26.

The event will be held in the Laird Room of the Dreyfus University Center from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Admission is $7 for the public and $5 for members of the Chinese Culture Club. Tickets are available for purchase in the Dreyfus University Center Concourse from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m., through Friday, Feb. 24.

The celebration will include a seven-course buffet dinner of Chinese cuisine, a dance from the Xin Jiang Province, a performance on a traditional Chinese instrument called the Er-hu, a Tai Chi demonstration and a Chinese fashion show.

The Lantern Festival is often thought of as the Valentine�s Day of China. It takes place on the fifteenth night after the Chinese New Year and is celebrated by families of Chinese descent around the world. It is one of the few days in Chinese culture when a curfew is not enforced and many young people celebrate through the night and into the next morning. Typical celebrations include parades, street performances and family gatherings with a wide variety of foods.

The Chinese Culture Club at UWSP is a student organization dedicated to promoting both modern and traditional Chinese culture through events and activities. The goal of the club is to create friendship, cultural exchange and mutual understanding between students.

For more information, contact Heidi Ngai, vice president of the Chinese Culture Club, at (715) 252-8682 or via e-mail at hngai792@uwsp.edu

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