Celebrating Culture and Legacy at Seton Hall’s Lunar New Year Event

Seton Hall University welcomed the Year of the Horse with a vibrant Lunar New Year Celebration on February 13, 2026, in Bethany Hall. Organized by Professor Dongdong Chen in collaboration with the New Jersey Chinese Language Teachers Association, the event brought together approximately 300 students and educators from across New Jersey for a morning of cultural exchange, performance and community building.

The celebration featured more than 200 student performers representing ten schools, including River Dell High School, Newark School of Global Studies, Columbia High School, Bard High School Early College, Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School, Paramus High School, Union County TEAMS Charter School, Rutgers Preparatory School, and International High School, alongside Seton Hall students. Each participating school contributed approximately 25 students, showcasing traditional dances, music and interactive cultural activities that highlighted the richness of Chinese heritage.

For Professor Chen, the event represented more than a celebration — it reflected Seton Hall’s longstanding leadership in Chinese language education in the United States. The University’s Chinese Program, now marking 75 years of impact, traces its roots to the founding of the Institute of Far Eastern Studies in 1951. Established during the Korean War, the institute played a vital role in promoting understanding of Asian cultures through courses in language, history, politics and religion, and became one of the nation’s earliest and most influential centers for Chinese Studies.

Seton Hall’s contributions to Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language (TCFL) have been transformative. Under the leadership of John B. Tsu, founding chair of the Department of Asian Studies in 1961, the University became a national leader in training Chinese language teachers. Through initiatives such as the National Defense Education Act Summer Chinese Language Institutes in the 1960s, Seton Hall helped prepare generations of educators, with nearly 95 percent of U.S. high school Chinese language teachers by 1970 graduating from programs at Seton Hall or San Francisco State [DC2.1]University.

Beyond teacher preparation, Seton Hall faculty played a pioneering role in developing instructional materials and shaping the professional field. Influential textbooks by scholar John DeFrancis and bilingual dictionaries by Professor Fred Fang-yu Wang [DC3.1]became widely used resources, while Seton Hall faculty helped establish the Chinese Language Teachers Association and its scholarly journal. These efforts helped elevate Chinese from a less commonly taught language to a mainstream academic discipline in the United States.

The Lunar New Year Celebration embodied this legacy by bringing together students and teachers from diverse backgrounds to experience Chinese culture firsthand. Through performances, interactive demonstrations, and shared traditions, the event fostered cultural understanding and inspired the next generation of language learners and educators.

By hosting this statewide celebration, Seton Hall University reaffirmed its commitment to cultural exchange, global education and community engagement. As the Chinese Program continues its decades-long tradition of excellence, events like this Lunar New Year celebration highlight the University’s enduring role as a leader in language education and intercultural dialogue.

Categories: Arts and Culture