Mid-Autumn festival celebrations

On 4th October, Cardiff Confucius Institute in collaboration with the Welsh Government hosted a Mid-Autumn festival celebration which brought together stakeholders from the education sector in Wales.

Mid-Autumn festival, also known as Moon Festival, was traditionally a harvest festival celebrated when the harvest moon was at its brightest and would be worshipped in hope of a plentiful harvest. In China, the moon is also an important symbol for family, so nowadays the festival is more typically recognised as a time for family reunion and peace. For attendees, the celebrations were an opportunity to bring together the education sector in Wales and to reflect on what has been achieved in the last year, while looking forward to the start of a new academic year and the development of new links and new connections.

The evening saw speeches from Professsor Nora de Leeuw, Pro Vice Chancellor International & Europe, Cardiff University, Kirsty Williams AM, Cabinet Secretary for Education, Welsh Government, and Ms Xiao Jiao, President of the Chinese Student Society, Cardiff University.

Following the speeches there were also performances from Confucius Classroom Ysgol Gyfun Cwm Rhymni (English: Rhymney Valley Comprehensive School) which has been a Confucius Classroom since 2015 and in this relatively short space of time has grown from strength to strength in the provision of Chinese language teaching. In May this year, 60 Year 9 pupils from Ysgol Cwm Rhymni passed the Young Chinese learners proficiency test (YCT), an excellent result testament to the hard work of the pupils, teachers Lisa Williams and Ceri Griffiths, and our two Cardiff Confucius Institute tutors who teach at the school. The school treated us to a wonderful performance of Chang’E in Chinese, Welsh and English with 3 narrators from Year 10, and 10 performers from Year 8.

Later in the evening, Cardiff Confucius Institute tutor Lu Xiaoyi treated the audience to a performance of Peking Opera. Each year, Cardiff Confucius Institute works to provide Chinese language and culture teaching to primary and secondary schools across Wales, to staff and students at Cardiff University, and to the public through adult learning courses and community activities. This wouldn't be possible without dedicated and talented tutors from China, all of whom bring their own unique set of skills to the Institute and therefore to the Cardiff Confucius Institute network. Lu Xiaoyi is one of the newest additions to the CCI team, and is trained in Peking Opera.

The event was a great success and enjoyed by all.