Lingze Duan stood puzzled in front of dozens of Chinese riddles.

" 'One person facing a single star behind a bar,' " Duan, a Penn State physics researcher, translated from the Chinese letters printed on one particular riddle.

"I've spent half an hour here and I've gotten four of them," he said of the riddles. "I'm not very good at these."

As Duan attempted to decipher the riddle, a loud drum began to beat behind the audience.

The drums, which were accompanied with cymbals and also a gong, brought forth the traditional two-person lion.

With the cheers of the crowd, the shimmering lion danced its way through the audience and onto the stage.

"The lion acts as one to ward away evil spirits while ushering in good luck," drummer Vinny Wong (senior-biobehavioral health) said.

"What better way to bring in the new year than doing one of the most traditional things?" Wong asked.

Over 600 people gathered in HUB Heritage Hall last night to listen, watch and laugh along to 18 performances for the Chinese Friendship Association's (CFA) Chinese Spring Festival Evening.

Performances included traditional Chinese dances, musical presentations, comedic skits and martial arts demonstrations.

CFA president Changying Li said the Chinese Spring Festival is meant to ring in the Chinese New Year in a fun way full of Chinese customs.

"The whole year depends on how you start," he said. "[The festival] will bring luck and fortune."

Gleaming images of Chinese New Year animals were positioned along the sides of the audience.

A large image of the 2005 animal, the rooster, was placed against an outline of China above the stage.

As the crowd was entertained by the many performances, they were supplied with traditional Chinese snacks of mahua, which is a Chinese bread, as well as crispy cake and bananas.

Morgan Forney (junior-agricultural engineering) said the festival marked his first tasting of mahua and crispy cake.

"[The mahua] doesn't taste like anything I've really had," he said.

"This taste and texture --I've never really had the two together," Forney added.

An acrobatic performance by Jay Lin became the fan favorite shortly after he took the stage with his rope and oversized wooden spool.

Lin spun the spool on the rope by rapidly twisting the ends of the rope. His tricks included flipping the spool high into the air and jumping the rope twice before catching the spool again on the rope, much to the delight of the audience.

Bo Tan (graduate-architectural engineering) said Lin's performance was his favorite routine.

"I've seen [acrobatic performances] back in China. I've never seen it in the U.S.," Tan said. "It's amazing to see."