Members of the Chinese Student Association will host a Chinese Moon Festival on the front lawn Oct. 11 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Admission will be five dollars for an evening of homemade Chinese food, traditional games with prizes and a brief Moon Festival performance.
In China, the Moon Festival is also known as the Mid-Autumn Festival or the Mooncake Festival, named after a sweet holiday dessert cake that is meant to represent the moon. The Festival is celebrated on the 15th day of the eighth month on the Chinese lunar calendar, which lands on Sept. 30 this year.
Junior Rick Jane of Guilin, China, said that according to ancient Chinese research, the moon comes closest to the earth each year during this time, making it appear brighter and more round. The roundness of the moon, Jane said, symbolizes the unity of Chinese families as they return to their homes from across the nation to enjoy mooncakes, to watch a televised Moon Festival performance and to have a meal with family during the festival.
“The Moon Festival is also called a reunion,” Jane said. “In China, we have to sit together with our family every Moon Festival to have dinner. Everyone thinks the Moon Festival is to enjoy the moon; no. The real meaning of the Moon Festival is gathering, reunion and to be a family.”
Last year, about 200 students attended the Chinese Student Association’s version of the Moon Festival, which was held in the cafeteria and was catered by Aramark.
Jane said that although there was a decent turnout last year, he is glad the venue and activities are changing this year.
“I thought it was a little bit boring and lots of people left,” Jane said. “So this time we changed it a lot. Last year we used food in the caf, but this year we will prepare the food ourselves and we have a big change with having the games, not just the performance. We will have a lot of prizes for everyone who can win the games; it will be more fun this way.”
Hao Xing, a junior from Guangdong, China, said the Moon Festival on campus will be a good way for Americans to get to know more Chinese students and to have questions about China answered. Xing said it is especially important for Americans to understand Chinese culture as more and more are looking to find jobs in China.
“Sometimes, I think Americans don’t know much about Chinese and think China is like North Korea; secret,” Xing said. “So we want to change the Chinese impression in Americans’ minds. Many Americans will ask us questions about China, so through the Moon Festival they can know more.”
Likewise, junior Wei Zheng of Guangzhou, China, said the Moon Festival will help Chinese students and American students become friends and learn how to communicate with one another more effectively.
“If we want to be good friends, I think we need to know each other’s culture,” Zheng said. “I think to understand each other’s culture is the foundation of the friendship with everyone. Just like Texas; some of my American friends said Texas is like its own country, and just like you should know each other even though (northern) and (southern) America is a little bit different, Chinese culture is also like that. So with the Moon Festival, I think we can show Chinese culture, and our American friends can understand why sometimes we have some differences.”
