On Thursday 26^th October 2023, Lancaster University Confucius Institute held Mid-Autumn Festival Celebrations in The Roundhouse for staff and students to enjoy at the start of the new academic year.

The extraordinary cultural event brought together staff and students from across the university to introduce and celebrate one of China’s biggest festivals.

The Mayor of Lancaster, Councillor Roger Dennison, also attended the celebration event and enjoyed the variety of Chinese performances and activities on offer.

The celebration began with a warm welcome from Lancaster University Confucius Institute UK Director, Professor Jinghan Zeng, followed by an introduction to the Mid-Autumn Festival by Lancaster University’s Pro-Vice-Chancellor Education, Wendy Robinson, who wished the event a smooth success.

Councillor Roger Dennison then presented the certificates to the winners of the Weihai photo competition ‘One planet...many ways to care for our environment’ and the winning photos were displayed on the screen for the audience to view and appreciate.

The winners were:

· First place: Menjiang Chen

· Second place: Josh Leung

· Third place: Cheuk Lun Jim

The Mayor also congratulated Lancaster University Confucius Institute teacher, Leo Zhenglang Chen, for winning second place on the ‘2023 CI Moments Short Video Collection’ competition by Chinese International Education Foundation for his video about his experience in the UK. Councillor Roger Dennison presented Leo with his certificate and the winning video was proudly shown to the audience.

Following the awards ceremony, Lancaster University Confucius Institute Deputy Director, Dr Amily Guénier, introduced the Chinese wellbeing programme, which aims to introduce massage, meditation, Taichi and other Chinese wellness practices to students, staff and the broader community.

Dr Guénier also informed the audience about the Chinese wellbeing activities taking place upstairs in the Roundhouse during the celebration. The owners of Pinwei Chinese Restaurant in Manchester also came to contribute to the wellbeing activities, and gave people the opportunity to make their own mooncakes.

The audience was then captivated by some fantastic live Chinese performances.

The first performance was a singing performance of the song ‘zhifouzhifou’ by Lancaster University second-year student, Favour, and new member of Lancaster University Confucius Institute staff, Alex Ziwei Yin.

The second performance was by Lancaster University first-year student, Joseph Chisnall, who wowed the audience with a performance playing the traditional Chinese instrument, guzheng.

After the performances, the audience was encouraged to try a variety of traditional Chinese activities taking place around The Roundhouse. The activities included Chinese ink painting by PhD student, Zi Quan, from the Lancaster Institute for the Contemporary Arts; Chinese calligraphy by PhD student, Guangyi Li from the Linguistics and English Language Department; Chinese tea ceremony and tea tasting by Lancaster University Confucius Institute teachers, Dr Mengke Li and Joly Xiao, and an opportunity to try on traditional Chinese costumes with the help of Chency Chen Xiao.

In the kitchen, was a variety of different Chinese snacks and mooncakes for people to try.

The Mid-Autumn Festival celebration gave people the opportunity to experience a range of traditional Chinese cultural activities.

Thank you to Ying Li for organising an excellent event and thank you to the Lancaster University Confucius Institute team who each played a role in making the event a success.