On January 28^th, a New Year Luncheon was held in Pingtung City at the Tao Shan Banquet Hall for 90 of NPUST’s international students who will be spending their winter break on-campus. With decorations and traditional music setting the atmosphere, the students had a chance to get in the holiday mood and experience some of the customs associated with the festival.   

The students were joined by NPUST’s President Chang-Hsien Tai and his wife as well as Overseas Chinese Affairs Council representative, Po-Chin Chen, and several other distinguished guests. President Tai and Council Representative Chen each offered remarks and wished the students a successful year before the meal began.

The students enjoyed a variety popular Chinese dishes together with a fabulous live song performance by the “Overseas Chinese Student Singing Competition” two-time champion from Malaysia, Tan Wai Teng. During the meal, President Tai made his rounds to hand out “red envelopes” to each of the students and wish them a happy and prosperous New Year. Lucky draws were held throughout the course of the event and awards were given to six students dressed in the “most festive red attire”. After lunch, an introduction to Chinese New Year “taboos” was presented by an Overseas Chinese student from Malaysia, followed by a trivia competition designed to test the students’ knowledge of Chinese New Year customs.

NPUST currently has 750 international students from 46 countries on the roster. Although many of them head home or travel to other places during the break, for those who stick around to continue their research or spend their time off on-campus over the New Year, the university always holds a special celebration to let them experience Taiwan’s biggest holiday of the year and remind them that they are part of the NPUST family.