I am a Tangyuan (汤圆), a sweet rice flour dumpling, or so said the pre-quiz to the NYU Shanghai Dumpling Festival 2015 - a quirky and smart concept designed by the NYU Shanghai Events Committee. Slightly intrigued and definitely enticed by the supposed 10,000 dumplings that would be arriving in the B1 Cafeteria, I and many other students paid a visit on Friday April 10th and we weren’t disappointed. Modelled after the Strawberry Festival at NYU New York, the Dumpling Festival is a new NYU Shanghai concept, and soon to be tradition, that involves various dumpling-related activities. In particular, students were expected to partake in an excessive amount of dumpling consumption. This year, students were treated to steamed, fried, vegetarian, sweet and halal dumplings, which meant that every student was adequately catered for. In addition to this, the first 140 visitors were gifted with a complimentary samosa, which could have explained the initial influx of visitors. The evening began with the announcement of the winners of the Student Government elections and was followed by different student performances. In addition to eating, there were also dumpling making lessons (which was assisted by parents of NYU Shanghai students) and various dumpling games. Dumpling pillows and Dumpling Festival t-shirts (featuring the logo designed by sophomore Naomi Losman) were even for sale. A huge part of Chinese culture, dumplings are a perfect way for both international and Chinese students to celebrate Chinese culture, food and tradition. Jiaozi (饺子), a common kind of Chinese dumpling consisting of a meat and/or vegetable filling wrapped in dough and boiled, steamed or pan-fried, were a prominent feature of the festival and were greatly enjoyed with a little bit of soy or vinegar dipping sauce. Freshman Sunyi Wang made the following comment about the event: “People were amazed by the food. People are so excited by the dumpling culture in China. It’s not very common to see so many people at dinner, The food was really good. I tried to make a dumpling, but it is not easy. Only my grandmother can make them probably in my family because you have to make the case really thin.” Another student commented that “The atmosphere was very lively and the pillows were very cute.” This article was written by Stephanie Bailey. Send an email to [email protected] to get in touch. Photo Credit: Ng Meizhi