Dian Zi (right) and Jiao Chen display traditional Manju clothes at China Night in the Memorial Union on Thursday.  Photo by Keisuke Yoshimura/The Dakota Student.

Students gathered to explore Chinese culture at China Night in the Memorial Union Ballroom on Thursday.

China Night is part of the Thursday Night Culture Series — a series coordinated by the Office of International Programs and the Memorial Union —  which features a variety of cultures.

There are roughly 400 to 500 Chinese students at UND.

Jiao Chen, the president of the Chinese Students and Scholars Association at UND, and Chinese student Harry Zou co-hosted the event.

“China Night took about two months for us to plan,” Chen said. “I wanted to make sure that we incorporated enough of our culture in the short amount of time that we had.”

Chinese culture was represented through performances and facts about four of the 55 minority groups in China.

A performance by Yeulin Zhao, a female Chinese scholar at UND, started off the night by  singing a Beijing Opera song, which represented the essence of Chinese culture.

The first minority group covered by China Night, the Manju, was represented by a showing of traditional Manju clothing. Chen wore a traditional female ensemble consisting of a brightly colored dress and a Dian Zi — an authentic, flowery hat.  Zou wore a gold and turquoise shirt and a traditional Manju hat.

Chen made it obvious to guests hats are a common accessory of traditional chinese culture.

The second minority covered was the Dai. Meiyu Li, a Chinese student at UND, performed a solo dance to represent the Dai culture called the “Dance of the Peacock.” The peacock is a symbol of good fortune, happiness, beauty and kindness in the culture.

“I’ve been dancing for 10 years,” Li said. “I learned the Dance of the Peacock long before the planning of China Night, so I volunteered to do it at tonight’s show.”

The last two groups covered during China Night were the Mongol and the Uyghur.

Zou projected images of the traditional clothing worn by the two minorities as well as the Mongol’s annual sports competition festival and the Uyghur landscape.

The ceremony came to a close with a performance by Xi Chen, Run Li, Yimeng Sun, Yubin Zhang, Zhixing Zhao, and Shuying Zhao. The performers wore red, yellow and black costumes completed with feather head pieces while doing a Uyghur Dance called “Lift Your Veil.”

After the ceremony was finished, guests were invited to try some of the authentic traditional Chinese food.  Entrees included fried shredded potato with green pepper, Kung Pao chicken and fried rice with egg.

The main courses were followed by an eight-ingredient porridge — rice, wheat kernels, barley, red bean, mung beans, kidney beans, peanuts and longan — for dessert.

“We based our choices of the food we would prepare for the evening off of what is popular and easy to make,” Chen said.

Chinese students and UND Dining Services teamed up to create the dishes. The dishes were flavorful and gave guests a taste of Chinese culture.

UND students and faculty are invited to attend Ghana Night on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. at the Loading Dock in the Memorial Union.

Adele Kieger is a staff writer for The Dakota Student. She can be reached at [email protected].