APASA Night Market celebrates Asian Pacific culture


Trojan Bhangra, USC’s only competitive Bhangra dance team, showcased South Asian culture with its performance at APASA Night Market on McCarthy Quad last Friday night. Photo by Mahira Raihan | Daily Trojan

Savory scents filled the air and the sound of rings clinking against bottles reverberated in the distance. Occasionally a burst of laughter would erupt from a corner of McCarthy Quad as dozens of students gathered to enjoy a Taiwanese-style night market on Friday.

Hosted by the Asian Pacific American Student Assembly, the night market featured 22 booths with games, prizes, raffles and food from different representative Asian Pacific cultures. The event also highlighted an array of live performances from USC clubs such as Haneulsori’s traditional Korean music, Hawaii Club hula, Japanese drumming ensemble Kazan Taiko and Trojan Bhangra dance.

“It’s been a pretty longstanding tradition and it’s the biggest event of the year,” said June Moon, an APASA intern and freshman majoring in business administration.

APASA’s night market — which has been held for nearly 10 years — mimicked traditional Taiwanese street fairs which incorporate a variety of food vendors and goods, while also displaying the local urban culture.

With vendors serving boba tea from Twinkle Brown Sugar, desserts from 85C Bakery Cafe, Indian cuisine from Manas, Indonesian food from Simpang Asia and more, attendees had the opportunity to get tastes of different culinary items representative of Asian Pacific culture. Students played traditional games like Bau Cua Ca Cop, a matching game, Gonggi, a catching and throwing pebble game, and Mahjong, Chinese solitaire, for tickets redeemable for themed prizes and food.

“The Indian fusion dancing and the Hawaiian dancers were things I’ve never seen before, so it was … mesmerizing to watch,” said Brandon Chung, a sophomore majoring in creative writing. “It was a cool experience witnessing the traditions of ethnic groups that you don’t see every day.”

APASA is an undergraduate student-run organization that aims to foster unity and a community of cultural, social and academic support through educating students on Asian Pacific heritage, history and traditions, according to its website. Additionally, it is the umbrella organization for 23 Asian Pacific American member groups within USC. It also serves as a source of funding and advisement for  its other member organizations.

“I think that an event like this is necessary in order to foster a sense of greater cultural awareness [around] USC regarding some of the ethnic groups that don’t get as much of a social spotlight, especially because others do,” Chung said. “It gives groups a chance to showcase some of their traditions and cultural activities that they are members of in a way that is most appealing to the casual audience.”

There were also activities that promoted important issues within the Asian Pacific Islander community such as Whitewashed Photo Booth. At the booth, the Asian American Cinema Association brought out cutouts of movie posters where the main characters are of Asian descent but played by white actors and allowed attendees to reclaim the whitewashed movie by taking photos with the cutout where they are the main character. The goal of the event was to not only entertain attendees, but also bring more awareness about social issues, including the lack of Asian Pacific Islander diversity in Hollywood, presented in a fun and engaging way for people of all different backgrounds.

“We want people to have fun, but the point of APASA and APASA member [organizations] is to introduce all these different cultures and increase visibility for the Asian Pacific American community,” Moon said. “[It’s] just to learn about the rich and diverse culture that the student body represents.”