Crossing cultural borders: the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival comes to the Dylan Thomas Centre

23.10.2023

In a truly cross-cultural event, children and parents from Gellionnen Primary school joined families from the Swansea Chinese community in a wonderful celebration of the Mid-Autumn Festival organised by the UWTSD Confucius Institute’s Chinese School.

The all-day event attracted over 200 people and was aimed at giving children from all backgrounds lots of authentic traditional activities to celebrate China’s second most important festival. The programme included legends surrounding the Moon Festival and storytelling; making mooncakes using playdough for little ones; lantern making and papercutting; riddles, chopstick competitions, and ‘pitchpot’ – the ancient Chinese game of throwing an arrow into a pot (health and safety rules were strictly followed!) Children also had fun with face painting, puzzles, as well as brush and ink painting and calligraphy. All the activities were delivered by CI staff and UWTSD Chinese student volunteers under the leadership of Chinese School Head Teacher, Mrs Cindy Chen.

In a festive and happy atmosphere, children and parents were very engaged and excited to be taking part. Many children who were very shy at the start came out of their shell and had great fun. Lisa Liu, Confucius Institute Chinese Co-Director commented: “It was touching to see this become a very family-oriented event. Parents and children read and tried to solve riddles together, parents patiently giving their children clues. It was lovely to see parents helping their children with different activities, or children involving their parents. These were real examples of filial piety – one of the great Confucian virtues!”

The feedback from the event was very positive. Parents of pupils from Gellionnen School where the Confucius Institute delivers weekly Chinese language and culture classes wrote said how much they appreciated the chance to join the event. Their comments are below:

有些父母从中国社会评论that the event brought back childhood memories for them of celebrating the Mid-Autumn festival in such a traditional way. Among the many comments received from parents are the following:

“My children played very happily yesterday. I am very grateful to the Confucius Institute for hosting this event. This activity let the children learn a lot of knowledge, at the same time, this activity also left a good memory. Thanks again!”

“This event is very good! Mid-Autumn Festival activities let me feel the festive atmosphere. I hope the Confucius Institute will hold more such activities in the future.”

“I'm excited to be at this event because I feel like I'm back at my hometown.”

“The children really enjoyed today's activity, and today's activity brought a great experience to the children!”

The Chinese School is managed by the UWTSD Confucius Institute and meets every Sunday during term time in the IQ building. While the emphasis is on equipping Chinese background children with excellent Mandarin language skills and qualifications, the school plays an important role in helping children maintain their cultural heritage.

For more information please contact Krystyna Krajewska, Confucius Institute Executive Director by emailing her atk.krajewska@www.guaguababy.com

进一步的信息

For more information, please contact Arwel Lloyd, Principal PR and Communications Officer, on 01267 676663 /arwel.lloyd@www.guaguababy.com