“So let us wish that man live as long as he can. Though miles apart, we’ll share the beauty she displays.” Su Shi’s “Shuidiao Getou” is an enduring chant during the Mid-Autumn Festival. In the Jiande Garden of NEFU, as the international student Dasha from Russia finished reading the entire poem and the soft guitar intro of the song “When Will the Moon Be There” played, the atmosphere of the Mid-Autumn Festival activities at the School of International Education and Exchanges heated up.
On the afternoon of September 30, the SIEE celebrated Mid-Autumn Festival with the theme of “Full Moon in Mid-Autumn Festival, Reunion in NEFU”, with a poetry reading competition as the main content, interspersed with performances such as moon cake making, traditional Chinese costume dancing and cucurbit flute playing, allowing international students, both new and old, to have a beautiful encounter with the traditional Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival culture. It was also a wonderful time for the international students to reunite with the teachers and students of NEFU and spend a good time in the Mid-Autumn Festival together.
At the beginning of the activity, Prof. Yue Xihua, Vice Dean of SIEE, wished all students and faculty members a happy Mid-Autumn Festival. He hoped that all students would care for and help each other, and enjoy their time at NEFU. The Chinese teacher Zheng Xin introduced the origins and legends of the Mid-Autumn Festival in both English and Chinese, and explained the traditional Chinese custom of “thinking of each other under the bright moon and having family reunion during the festival”. The chefs of NEFU have already prepared the mooncake fillings for the international students. Students from various countries mixed the dough, wrapped the fillings and put the mooncakes such as date paste mooncakes and Sichuan mooncakes printed with molds into the oven one after another.
Although poetry is beautiful, it is not an easy challenge. For international students whose mother tongue is not Chinese, it is difficult to understand the ancient poems, which are so beautiful and rich in meaning. Fortunately, there are a large number of poems expressing the Mid-Autumn Festival nostalgia. The 14 international students who took part in the recitation competition chose their favorite poems. “After reading and writing the poem many times, I probably understood its literal meaning, but I still didn’t quite understand what the author was trying to say,” said Wu Shiqiaozhuang, a student from Vietnam, who recited the poem “Looking at the Moon on the Fifteenth Night” by Tang Dynasty poet Wang Jian. “It was only later, through checking online and my teacher’s guidance, that I slowly realized that the poet tried to express his thoughts about his family.”
During the competition, Indonesian student Surya recited the poem “Looking at the Moon and Longing for One Far Away” by Zhang Jiuling, which won the praise from the judges and made the students understand the feelings of “As the bright moon shines over the sea, from far away you share this moment with me.”
Finally, four new students from North Korea recited the 200-word poem “A Moonlit Night on the Spring River”. They fully interpreted the poem and wonderfully performed the scene in the poem, and won the competition.
On the stage, Chinese students dressed in traditional Chinese costumes performed elegant folk dances such as “Chang’an Girl”; the cucurbit flute performance for two of “Encounter in This World” was so clear and melodious that it made people feel as if they were under the bright moonlight, making the audience feel the charm of traditional Chinese culture. Sun Lihao, a “campus star” who has won the honor of being one of the “top ten singers” in NEFU, also gave a performance of “The Moon Represents My Heart” and other songs to the teachers and students of SIEE.
At the end of the event, Dean Luo Ying, Vice Deans Yue Xihua and Liu Dan, as well as the Chinese teachers Hu Yujuan and Huang Wei, who served as judges, presented certificates and prizes to the winners of the poetry reading competition. Dean Luo Ying also shared the joy of spending the evening with the students. The 2020 Mid-Autumn Festival Celebration and the 1st Chinese Poetry Reading Competition for International Students came to a successful end. For the first time, international students gave their emotions to their classmates, family members and China through the reading and understanding of ancient poems. They felt the unique charm of traditional Chinese culture, as well as the unique Mid-Autumn Festival spent in NEFU.
