At a Night Market In East Pyne, Princeton Celebrates Taiwanese Culture

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Abby Leonardi ’29

Faith Ho ’27

On the night of April 11, hundreds of students and community members lined up outside East Pyne. The sound of K-pop music blared while blue and pink strobe lights spilled over the top of the building, creating a sheen of turquoise and magenta that beckoned from within. Entering through the archway, visitors were hit by the rich, savory aroma of spicy Korean tteokbokki (cylindrical rice cakes in chili sauce) and the tangy, citrus smell of Hong Kong-style pineapple buns. Amid the sea of arrivals, a University dance group took the stage while students played stall-style games for prizes and lined up to try the food at the annual Princeton Taiwanese American Student Association (TASA) Night Market.

The Night Market is modeled after a Taiwanese tradition in which food stalls come out at sundown, filling streets with thousands of people and an array of popular street food. “In Taiwan, the night markets are very casual,” TASA co-president Alton Young ’28 explained. “Some people go after work. It is a very come-as-you please place, and that’s what we’re trying to capture here.”

But creating that casual feel for one night takes months of planning: With 65 volunteers, the event is a large community effort with many moving parts. “We have a PSafe officer, we registered the space ahead of time, we have family and friends going off campus to pick up food, and we had to get a noise permit from the Municipality of Princeton,” Young said. “For composting, we even worked with EcoReps to make sure we’re being sustainable, considering there’s so much food.”

While Night Market is a Taiwanese tradition, TASA’s version incorporates a dozen Asian cultural organizations from across campus, including the Thai Students Association, Chinese Students Association, Hong Kong Students Association, and Vietnamese Students Association. TASA, which receives funding from several University sources, subsidizes the food selections, allowing organizers to choose the cuisine that feels most authentic to each ethnicity. This year’s offerings included food from restaurants as far away as Edison, New Jersey.

Favorites included braised pork, paneer tikka, sushi, bubble tea, and lechon baboy, an entire roasted pig brought by the Princeton Filipino Community student group. “There are so many foods here that I didn’t even know existed, and I wouldn’t have tried otherwise,” said Audrey Damis ’29. “I feel like it really allows me to get a good glimpse into all of the different cultures that exist here at Princeton.”

“In Chinese the term for Night Market is rénao, which translates roughly into ‘loud noise,’ but in a good chaos way.”

— Joshua Jen ’28

Attendees crowded together to watch performances from campus groups such as Koko Pops, a K-pop dance company, and VTone, an East Asian a cappella ensemble, as well as a yo-yo dance performance by Jaydon Sun ’29.

Joshua Jen ’28, the other TASA co-president, saw the large crowd as a reflection of the Night Market tradition, explaining, “In Chinese the term for Night Market is rénao, which translates roughly into ‘loud noise,’ but in a good chaos way … . It allows people to engage in Taiwanese culture in a way that feels authentic in the Princeton community.”

TASA began hosting its Night Market in 2022, and this year’s was the largest one yet, drawing more than 1,000 people, including volunteers and club members. Standing in the East Pyne courtyard, surrounded by colorful lights and an energetic crowd, there was a strong sense of community that TASA worked for months to achieve — authentic to the Taiwanese Night Market tradition, while also distinctly flavored by Princeton’s bustling campus culture. “Everyone does different things before and after,” Young said, “but we all come together for the in-between.”