The Bolles Chinese Club hosted Chinese Week on the Upper School San Jose Campus February 5-9 in anticipation of the Lunar New Year. With support from Bolles upper school Chinese teacher Chengmei Rothschild, these students decorated the campus and planned fun activities to celebrate the Year of the Dragon and educate their classmates about Chinese culture.

The Chinese Club students kicked off the week by making dumplings and providing free samples of the delicious treats during Activities. The next day, the club offered Chinese calligraphy, paper cutting and painting, and the following day, students participated in a Tai-Chi exercise.

On February 8, Dr. Piper Spohr stopped by the Varn Board Room on the San Jose Campus to speak with students about Chinese medicine and techniques such as acupuncture, cupping and herbology. Spohr has been in private family practice for more than 20 years, and she graciously agreed to present during Chinese Week as well as the week before, when she sat down with Chinese III/Honors classes.

Rothschild said students in attendance at Spohr’s presentations – including her son, Caden Spohr ’26 – got a sense of the differences between Chinese traditional medicine and Western medicine.

“This was an amazing opportunity for me and my students to learn about Chinese traditional medicine from an expert,” she said. “We should utilize our community’s rich resources as much as we can.”

Chinese Week wrapped up on Friday with the club selling Chinese food, including spring rolls, stir-fried rice and boba tea, with proceeds benefiting an orphanage in Hebei Province, China. Chinese IV Honors students also made a music video featuring swimmers and Resident Life students that can be viewed here. 

Chinese Club members will also head to the Bolles Lower School Whitehurst Campus on February 14 to teach students in Pre-K about the Lunar New Year.

To view pictures from Chinese Week, visit our online gallery.