“Not Our Generation:” Eastern Culture Club Challenges Stereotypes

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               hinese lanterns, milk tea and the destruction of cultural stereotypes: Welcome to the Eastern Culture Club.

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               Senior Wenjie Zhu, founder and president, and senior Sharayah Wallace, vice president, hope to focus on pop culture to influence people to join. They will discuss common interests such as K-Pop, a genre of Korean music, trendy Eastern style and anime.

“[We want] to introduce trending culture more than boring traditional Chinese culture,” Zhu said.

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To keep people interested, the club has several upcoming events. The closest is the Mid-Autumn Festival, which takes place Sunday, Sept. 27. The club plans to celebrate by eating mooncakes and releasing lanterns after dark.

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“The club plans on getting more acquainted with the Eastern culture,” Wallace said. “We want to do a lot of festivals and parties that would happen over in China.”

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One of the focuses of the club is to put an end to stereotypes associated with eastern Asia.

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“[We want to] change stereotypes of communism and tied feet,” Zhu said. “[It’s] not our generation.”

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The club meets at 7:30 a.m. the first and third Monday of every month in Megan Calvillo’s room, 10-328. The first club meeting was Sept. 8, where students got to practice writing the word “autumn” in calligraphy and try a Chinese drink called milk tea, which consists of mint, Oreo powder and cream.

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“We just want to make [the club] fun with their food, their music and their calligraphy,” Wallace said.

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Junior David Fulton has a different spin on what he would like to learn in the club.

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“I’m very interested in the politics of Asia and the contemporary history of Asia from the early 20th century to now,” Fulton said.

Fulton, a friend of Zhu’s, helped her start up the club.

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“Wenjie asked me if I [was] interested in helping out with her starting this club, and I was like ‘Yeah, I would do it’,” Fulton said. “I’m kind of interested in what she’s doing with [the club] now.”

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The club is very personal to Zhu, who spent her childhood until the age of 14 in China. She hopes she can help students understand the cultural differences in a new light.

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“I want people to experience the culture as if they were in Asia,” Zhu said. “I want them to be able to touch [the culture].”