Today, Jan. 28, inside the Memorial Union ballroom at 6 p.m., the Taiwanese Student Association of Oregon State University is holding their annual culture night called Night Market, featuring multiple attractions.

Tickets are required in order to attend this free event; tickets can be found online. 

Charlene Wang is a member of the Taiwanese Student Association and helped organize the culture night. Wang is the unofficial senior advisor for the annual events, and even had to do virtually all the organizational work for the 2020 culture night by herself—but this year, the organization had help. 

“This time around, we have way more people, it’s great, we got a lot of help,” Wang said. “I’m not doing everything by myself anymore. But, everyone still depends on me to know what to do next, or what we should get done.”

There are four things that make this event unique from others.

“We did hire someone this time around—a group that will do a lion dance,” Wang said.

The White Lotus Lion Dancers is a part of the White Lotus Foundation. Among the dancers is Nhan Danh, who has been dancing since he was around five years old. He also happens to be the president and lead instructor of the dancers for the White Lotus Foundation.

One thing to note is that while Danh may be Vietnamese, lion dancing is not exclusive to Taiwan, or any country.

“Lion dancing is very broad,” Danh said. “It comes from Chinese culture—China, because it’s a Chinese art and tradition that Vietnamese people later adapted.”

There is another aspect that will make this culture night unique.

“Every culture has different food. We always aim to do something authentically Taiwanese, but it does change every time. It’s not always the same. This year, we have a dish called luwei,” Wang said.

Luwei is, as Wang describes it, “a bunch of things braised together.” While typically the dish contains meat, in an effort to make it more accessible to everyone, they decided to do a vegan option for the event.

Among other things to see and experience at the 2022 Taiwanese Culture Night include a guest speaker, a skit and games. The guest speaker will be OSU Provost and Executive Vice President Edward Feser, whose speech is to be focused on more than just the culture night.

“My comments for the welcome will speak to the importance of intercultural understanding and OSU’s internationalization goals,” Feser said. “Internationalization and intercultural understanding are priorities at Oregon State University and I am glad to see that groups of students like the Taiwanese Student Association have found community on our campus.”

Lastly, the games that are available at the culture night include punch board, ring toss and mahjong.

For more information on the Taiwanese Culture Night: Night Market event, you can visit the Taiwanese Student Association’s Instagram page at @osu_twsa_official, and for more information on the White Lotus Foundation or to watch some of their performances, you can find them on Instagram at @whitelotusliondance.