Yang Mei

yangmei_szdaily@163.com

BASKING in the gentle, shimmering moonlight Friday, Chinese and expat residents in Shekou, Nanshan District, wandered through the Mid-Autumn Festival Fair hosted by Zhaoshang Subdistrict to taste mooncakes and appreciate various Chinese folk art and handicrafts to enjoy the traditional Chinese festival.

The celebration took place at Gateway One Phase 2 in the Sea World.

Benjamin Diao, director of Nanshan International Cultural Exchange & Service Center (NSIC), said the fair aimed to bring fun to residents and let them learn more about traditional Chinese culture and customs, and enhance the communication between Chinese and expat communities.

Also known as the Moon Festival or the Mooncake Festival, the Mid-Autumn Festival is traditionally celebrated on the 15th day of the eighth month of the Chinese lunar calendar and falls on yesterday this year. In China, it is a time to reunite with families and friends to celebrate the bountiful harvest time.

Eight stalls were set up to present visitors with various Chinese folk art and handicrafts such as sugar paintings, silhouette portraits, Chinese knots, papercutting, clay figurines and sugar figure art. Children had cotton candy and traditional sweet snacks like glazed fruit skewers.

Anastasiya Klimuk from the Republic of Belarus visited the fair with her daughter and a friend during their evening walk. Though it’s her first time to visit, Klimuk said she had a wonderful time and was happy to learn more about Chinese culture. “I like Chinese tradition, so I would like to know more about it. I’m very happy to see this place and enjoy these activities with my friend,” she said, adding that it was a good idea to have such events for foreign and Chinese residents to have fun and learn traditions together.

Kelly Barros from Brazil and Ysve Salazar from Venezuela also brought their daughters to have fun and learn about the festival. “It’s a very nice event, our kids really love the candies, and we like the mooncakes,” the two moms said.

As part of their efforts to build a more integrated international community in the area, Zhaoshang Subdistrict would organize fairs and carnivals for traditional Chinese festivals, bringing Chinese and expats closer and sharing knowledge about Chinese history and culture, Diao said.