The HUB Alumni Hall was decorated last night in spring couplets, red banners with black characters symbolizing good luck and good fortune, where a crowd of about 450 people gathered for the Lunar New Year Festival.

The night, sponsored by University Park Allocation Committee and the Taiwanese Student Association, included a traditional buffet-style dinner, a film about the celebration of the New Year in Taiwan, a Dragon Dance, other dance and musical performances, and prize drawings.

"I was so impressed to see that so many people were coming," said Pei-Shan Liao, president of the Taiwanese Student Association.

Attendees were able to choose from a selection of Chinese dishes. Specialty items such as pearl milk tea, a chilled, creamy beverage with brown pea-sized tapioca balls, and sticky rice, which resembles a rice-base fruitcake, were also served.

The food was prepared by chefs from local restaurants, Big Bowl Noodle House, 428 E. College Ave., and New Chinatown Chinese Restaurant, 119 S. Pugh St.

"I think it turned out very well — everything is gone," said Cecily Chang, owner of New Chinatown Chinese Restaurant.

The chefs who were working on the feast began preparations last Thursday and had been up until 4:30 a.m. cooking the night before the event, Chang said.

During and after the feast, a film depicting the specific New Year customs practiced in Taiwan was shown.

"I think the thing that impressed me most is the significance of the color red," said David McNaughton, assistant professor of special education, referring to what he learned from a student about the positive meaning of the color in Chinese culture.

Young attendees of all ages, many of whom were dressed in red, skipped and danced with energy between the aisles of the long banquet-style tables in the auditorium.

The little ones dressed in red later congregated on the stage to sing the "Fishing Song" and "Happy New Year" for the audience. They are members of the local Chinese school.

"Penn State students and faculty volunteer to teach the children, on Saturdays, about Chinese culture, writing, reading, speaking and art," Liao said.

After the film was shown, the Dragon Dance was introduced.

A red, glittery dragon with a multicolored head danced its way up the isle and onto the stage, carried by a team of 10 young men, led by one man with a colorful, striped baton. When the pounding music came to a halt, the dancers stood still, leaving the dragon wound around its own body in a spiral.

Next, Penn State President Graham Spanier performed the tradition of presenting the dragon with a red envelope, in its mouth, for good luck.

"I want to say how pleased I am to see an opportunity like this for students to celebrate traditions from their home countries," Spanier said.

Ju-Shin Yeh (graduate-counselor education) said she came with friends and the event helped her feel less homesick.

"It is just like Chinese New Year at home," she said.