On Feb. 7 during lunch, the Multipurpose Room (MPR) was alight with Chinese festivities and the smell of fried chicken and pork. The Chinese Luncheon, an annual event celebrating Chinese culture, is hosted by the Bellaire Chinese Club (BCC) and the Chinese Honor Society (CHS).

BCC sponsor and Chinese teacher Sarah Tsai detailed the planning and hard work that went into the program.

“We’ve been planning for a while, and it will be very busy,” Tsai said. “We have to set up the whole show during 4th period, and everything will have to be done in 50 minutes including passing out the food and drinks, then the program following which features performances from Chinese teacher Sandra Huang’s CHS talent show students. Afterwards, we have to put all the tables and chairs back.”

BCC and CHS students and teachers were bustling about 4th period before lunch practicing their performance, setting up the luncheon stands and tables and making sure everything was in order. The food included a boxed lunch with steamed broccoli, bell pepper and beef, a tomato and egg dish and rice with a choice of fried chicken or pork. A separate stand sold milk tea tapioca. Tickets started selling a month prior to the event. The lunch boxes sold for $8 and the tapioca for $3. The luncheon performance, Tsai said, was following up on the success of the Chinese Talent Show.

“We just want students to experience the Chinese culture,” Tsai said. “A lot of teachers and students bought tickets for it. The student performers are really professional, and there are a lot of people who want to go because they saw the performance at the talent show. For the talent show performance, we had people from other schools like Austin High School sign up. They brought their students on buses to watch our talent show performers. For 7th period we had about 950 people and for 6^th period, 600 people.”

After people received their lunch from the stands at the entrance, they filed into the MPR to watch the show. It included acts such as lion dancing, a showcase of the traditional Chinese yo-yo as well as a performance that involved flag twirling and an array of kung fu, acrobatic leaps and dancing.

After hard planning and practicing, the Luncheon was able to run smoothly with everything done to show off the Chinese culture.