News Release

About 2,000 Chinese students and scholars from 20 universities and institutes in Maryland; Virginia; Washington, D.C.; Delaware; and West Virginia are expected to welcome the Year of the Boar on Saturday, Feb. 3, at the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. The general public is also welcome to attend this event, hosted by the Chinese Student and Scholar Associations at Johns Hopkins University and The Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions and co-sponsored by the participating universities, many Chinese restaurants, as well as several businesses and banks in the greater Baltimore/Washington area. Tickets are $50, $25 and $10, with students and kids (under 12) tickets at $3. Information is available by e-mailing dc_ticket_newyear@yahoo.com. Additional information is online at http://www.jhmi-cssa.org/www/.

The program will include a mix of traditional and modern Chinese musical performances and dance acts by colorfully dressed performers, like Chinese Kung Fu, Beijing opera, a flute solo, a Chinese violin solo, and a Chinese zither ensemble.

Co-sponsors include the University of Maryland, College Park; University of Maryland, Baltimore; University of Baltimore; George Mason University and George Washington University. Other participating institutions are American University; the University of Delaware; Georgetown University; the University of Maryland, Baltimore County; Towson University; the University of Virginia; Virginia Tech; Virginia Commonwealth University; the College of William & Mary; the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences; Catholic University of America; West Virginia University; the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the National Institutes of Health.

There are more than 2,000 Chinese students and scholars in the Johns Hopkins community, including U.S. permanent residents who are Chinese citizens, working and studying at its Baltimore campuses. On the Western calendar, Feb. 18 is the first day of the Chinese New Year period, which lasts 15 days and ends with the Lantern Festival. (The event is being celebrated a few days early so it can be filmed and broadcast in China.) Chinese New Year, also known as the Spring Festival, is the most significant holiday of the year for the Chinese. Like Thanksgiving and Christmas in the United States, Chinese New Year is a time for family gatherings and making new plans for the coming year. Campus celebrations have taken place before, but not to this scale, which organizers hope will attract many Chinese students and their families while providing an opportunity to introduce aspects of Chinese culture to others. Last year's festival took place on the university's Homewood campus and drew a crowd of more than 1,000 guests.

Reporters interested in covering this event should contact the event's media coordinator, Jing Wan at 410-916-7371 or jwan2@jhu.edu.