"'A lonely stranger in a strange land I am cast, I miss my family all the more on every festival day,' "said the restaurant co-owner Zuqi Su, quoting a Tang dynasty Chinese poet Wang Wei (699-759). "On a festival like this, we want to help with the homesickness of Chinese living abroad, and introduce traditional Chinese culture to people here."

"We wanted to give Chinese abroad, especially students who have no family here in the US, a sense of home away from home," Su told Xinhua.

Sherrie Wang, a Chinese student studying at Columbia University, was very grateful to Su and his team organizing such a special gathering.

"This is our first time making rice dumplings on our own," said Wang, who has been in the US for six years. "We used to eat a regular meal with friends or buy ready-made rice dumplings from stores on this festival."