On 3 November 2024, the Lancaster University Confucius Institute team took part in the Tenth Festival of Culture at Lancaster Town Hall.

The festival was attended by around 800 members of the local community, including the Deputy Mayor of Lancaster as a celebration of the different cultures in the Lancaster district.

The day featured performances from around the world and each community was invited to have a stall at the festival.

The Lancaster University Confucius Institute team brought different styles of Chinese traditional clothing for both adults and children to try on. People enjoyed looking at the different colours, material and styles of clothing.

The team also prepared a variety of Chinese masks for children to wear and learn about Chinese culture at the stall.

The masks were related to the Nuo Festival in China, families celebrate in order to protect against evil spirits, similar to the western Halloween Festival. The Nuo masks are also an auspicious symbol of removing disasters and receiving good fortune.

The masks showed the comparison of Chinese spirits to western spirits.

At the start of the festival, a children’s fashion show took place where children wore clothes from their culture or modelled recycled clothing to promote sustainability. Children from the Lancaster Chinese weekend classes wore Chinese traditional clothing and walked on stage to model this for the audience.

Following the fashion show, was an afternoon of performances from different communities. Children from the Lancaster Chinese weekend classes sang the Chinese song ‘踏雪寻梅 - Walking in the snow in search of plum blossoms’ and danced a modern Chinese dance to ‘彩虹的微笑- Rainbow Smile’. The audience praised the children for their performances.

The Lancaster University Confucius Institute team had a great time sharing Chinese culture with members of the local community and learning about their cultures too.