The Students’ Union last week apologised to students for using “Lunar New Year” instead of “Chinese New Year” despite the former being a more inclusive term.
The Union apologised to academic reps after receiving complaints that its use of the term “Lunar New Year” in a previous newsletter was “inappropriate”, saying it “did not adequately consider cultural sensitivities around the term we used.”
It should be noted the term “Lunar New Year” is considered more inclusive than “Chinese New Year”, since the occasion is celebrated not just in China but in multiple East and Southeast Asian countries, including Korea, Japan, and Vietnam.
The Union has in previous years marked the celebration by using the term “Lunar New Year”, however, The Cheese Grater observes that only this year have they erased the term to simply refer to it as the “Year of the Snake”.
In the original email, the Union wished academic reps happy Lunar New Year, adding: “It’s [Postgraduate Officer] Darcy’s favourite holiday, and we hope you’re enjoying it as much as she is.”
But the Union’s apology was quick to distance the involvement of Postgraduate Officer Darcy Lan and Education Officer Shaban Chaudhary, claiming they were not involved in writing that section of the letter and that it did not represent their views.
Between 2020/21, the number of Chinese students at UCL grew to 12,935, representing over half of the international student population. These students have played a significant role in the University’s finances, with international students generating 76% of UCL’s tuition fee revenue in 2021/22.
The term “Lunar New Year” reflects the multiple countries that mark the lunisolar new year, which based on the Chinese calendar falls on the second full moon after the winter solstice.
The more inclusive term had been widely adopted by Western media and governments, with the official Instagram account of Prime Minister Keir Starmer marking the celebrations this year using the same phrase.
Critics of the term have argued that there is a distinction between “Chinese New Year” and the celebrations in other nations, which may include different dates, rituals and traditions.
But some Chinese nationalists have objected to the use of the more inclusive term due to a “misunderstanding of the cultural roots of the Spring Festival” and what many claim as a “disregard for Chinese culture and the feelings of Chinese people around the world”, according to one Weibo post, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter. The Union did not reveal whether complaints it had received were motivated by a similar nationalist rhetoric.
A Union spokesperson said: “We used both ‘Happy Year of the Snake’ and ‘Happy Lunar New Year’ when marking this important time of year on our social media, websites, newsletters, and in other marketing material.”
However, The Cheese Grater was not able to find any mention of “Lunar New Year” in the Union’s promotional material this year – aside from the newsletter at the heart of the scandal.
They went on to say: “We welcome feedback from our community about our work and will always respond to enquiries from students. We wish all those celebrating much health and happiness in the new year.”
