During the full moon night at 7:00 PM on 24th September, the bright, shiny, and full moon welcomed ‘Mid-Autumn Festival 2018’. A flow of over 60 students from all around the world, including young Chinese students, waved into one hall, to celebrate China’s 2nd largest festival, known as ‘Mid-Autumn Festival’ which is celebrated as one of the most special festivals in China, Korea, etc. The ‘Mid-Autumn’ festival is a harvest festival since an era of ancient China. A dynamic and passionate team of UCAS English Corner organized the festival at the premises of UCAS Yanqihu campus for the very first time, hosted by Pralhad Gupta, a Ph.D. student from Nepal, and a Chinese postgraduate student named Han Xuefen. The event was organized at the center of the Yanqihu Campus, inside ‘SANA ZOAN CAFÉ’.
Thilina (Sri-Lanka) showing his country’s photos to Zeng Xue Qi, Guo Xiao Wen, Jiang Cheng, and Hou Jia Yin
Sunayana Maben (India) posing for the picture
The crowd sounded tremendously together and the hall was enthralled by a famous Chinese song “míng yuè jǐ shí yŏu, bǎ jiǔ wèn qīng tiān” which means “How rare the moon, so round and clear! With a cup in hand, I ask the blue sky”.
Mya Bhone Maw (Myanmar), the 1st prize winner of Chinese song contest
Harini (India), the 2nd prize winner of Chinese song contest
This event was aimed at promoting a cross-cultural exposure to foreign students from nook and corners of the globe, and celebrating the “Mid-Autumn’ festival together, with a deep insight to the history of China, the origin of the festival, and its celebration methods in different parts of China. The event lasted for two hours, with a series of presentations, exciting games, quizzes, entertaining music, and dance.
Victoria Llina (Kazakhstan), (in the middle) ,astonished to learn about history of China
Cedric Karel Fonzeu Monguen (Cameroon), raising the hand to answer the quiz question
Ye Htet Lwin (Myanmar), guessing the name of the movie during the game.
The crowd dancing during on a rock music.
Participants tasted delicious mooncakes, rejoiced a beautiful Chinese song “shǔi diào gē tóu bĭng chén zhōng qĪu” which associates the moon festival with the reunion and best wishes for our loved ones. The host also described the well-known culture and traditions of celebrating the festival, such as ‘family reunion’, ‘eating mooncakes’, ‘Kong Ming Lantern’, ‘wishing best wishes’, etc. A Chinese girl named Shi Tiancai introduced the celebration of the festival at her hometown in Shaanxi province and discussed some typical and eye-catching specialties about her village. She introduced craftwork made up of flour, homemade mooncakes, dumplings, etc. The co-host Han Xuefen presented a brief introduction to the history of China started from a pre-modern era to the Ming and Qing dynasty and highlighted the significance of the festival throughout the evolution of modern China from a pre-historic one. The host, Pralhad shared his experiences about living in China for over two years, and his deep interest and understanding of Chinese culture and traditions. He delivered a Chinese mythological story of a historical figure, Hou Yi and his wife Chang’ E. The immortal love story of the couples touched the heart of the audience. Later, Li Chuanlei recited a famous poetry ‘Tai Chang Yin’ about the immortal rabbit which resides in the moon with goddess Chang’ E. Besides cross-cultural exchange, the event bridged the gap between international and Chinese students, and the event proceeded with enchanting dance on the stage, which broke down a deep interaction among them.
According to many foreign students, ‘yuè liàng dài biăo wŏ de xīn’ which means ‘the moon represents my heart’ is a well-known song to them before coming to China. That was the reason when the voices from everyone was synchronized together, and the environment turned melodious. In the latter part of the ceremony, Mr. Ouyang who led the activity in a well-organized way put forward his concluding speech and introduced ‘UCAS English Corner’, what it is, how does it work, and what is the future plan’. He welcomed everyone to join the program which can help us stay in a better and harmonious way overcoming our homesickness which may occur when we live hundreds of miles away from our family. Lastly, the host of the event, Pralhad Gupta shared his motivation towards his long-term & optimistic plans for the organization and thanked everyone who supported the event and beautified the atmosphere to a stunning night at the campus.
Ouyang Ming introducing UCAS English Corner, its vision, and future plans
Group Photo
The UCAS English Corner strive to bridge the gap between Chinese and international students at the campus by cross-cultural exchange, language partnerships and creating a homely environment at the campus for all who come from thousands of miles away leaving their home for a better future and explore doors of opportunities: “LEARN TOGETHER, GROW TOGETHER”.
Core Committee, UCAS English Corner
The host’s concluding speech
Writer: Pralhad Gupta, Ph.D. (1st year), University of Chinese Academy of Sciences
Photographed by: Wang Zhufeng, Zhou Yongbiao
