Chinese Moon Festival celebrations at the University of Manchester

This year the annual Chinese Moon Festival was celebrated at the Manchester Museum, with taster events of Chinese culture also running across the week at the University’s Confucius Institute.

The cultural festival, which has been celebrated since the Shang Dynasty (c. 1600 – 1046 BCE), marks the traditional end of harvest in China and across other regions of Asia. Celebrations are always held on the 15th day of the 8th month of the Lunar calendar, which this year corresponded to the 4th of October according to the Gregorian calendar. This is supposed to be the night of the fullest, brightest moon: although cloudy Manchester skies may have obscured a perfect view, the abundance of incredibly popular (and delicious) moon cakes surely made up for lack of the real thing.

With the roundness of the moon symbolising reunion, the central theme of the festival is the gathering of Chinese people and this aim was certainly achieved. The museum’s Kanaris theatre played host to various Chinese cultural workshops and exhibitions, including calligraphy, the famous Chinese tea ceremony, traditional clothing, and decorative string craft. The red and gold colours synonymous with China filled the room, and I looked particularly stylish wearing traditional Asian clothing.

Once many people had gathered there was a run-through of the festival’s historical background and legend, followed by wonderful performances of the Chinese ancient zither (guzheng) and traditional dance routines by the staff of the Confucius Institute. These members of staff also ran other sessions at the Confucius Institute all through the week which offered a taste of Chinese culture. The hands-on workshops included calligraphy classes, Chinese painting, a deeper look into Chinese traditional musical instruments, paper-cutting, tea ceremony, and traditional festivals were held Monday to Friday.

Full classes in Chinese calligraphy and other cultural classes are beginning shortly, further details of which can be found on the Manchester Confucius Institute website.