The evening of the event saw the Sheffield Confucius Institute (SCI) team busily preparing in the hall of the University’s beautiful Firth Court building. From soundcheck to rehearsals, the hall was alight with activity. The audience turnout was staggering with over 300 attendees - testament to the strength of Sheffield's Chinese community and local desire to enjoy and engage with the event. Audience members tucked into specially prepared mooncakes before the event, which really set the scene and created an atmosphere.
Speech from SCI Director, Andy Barker
The event opened with a speech from the Director of the SCI, Andy Barker, who talked about the plentiful opportunities for sharing and mutual growth and understanding between the institute and its positive mission with the Sheffield community. This set a positive tone for the event as the audience was locked in for the festivities.
Blooming Flowers And The Full Moon - Wanlin Dance Academy
The Wanlin Dance Academy, a dance collective founded by a friend of the Confucius Institute and the University, Wanlin Luo, took to the stage. A troupe of dancers dressed in beautiful qipaos performed with style and elegance, delivering a dance act entitled Blooming Flowers and the Full Moon. The performance was designed to elicit feelings of togetherness, family and coming together.
Mid-Autumn Festival Quiz
After the wonderful dance act, Andy was back on stage to deliver a quirky and interactive quiz - no mean feat considering there were over 300 attendees. The questions ranged from mooncakes to moon landings, and our teachers glided down the aisles distributing prizes to those brave enough to answer and answer correctly.
Lingxi Zeng and Meng Lu Li - Little Bamboo Row and Station Typhoon
A musical performance followed the quiz. Lingxi Zang and Meng Lu Li, long time collaborators with the Sheffield Confucius Institute performed on guzheng and with a dance performance. Their first performance entitled "Little Bamboo Row", is a song expressing the courage and determination of Chinese people and the second, "Station typhoon" through its description of Chinese dock workers fighting to work in a typhoon, showed us the brave and heroic spirit of the Chinese people and their faith in the future.
Mid-Autumn Festival Presentation - Delivered by SCI Sponsored Teachers
Two of our sponsored teachers, Li Junchi and Du Jiaxing, delivered a fantastic presentation all about the Mid-Autumn Festival and its roots in the myth of Chang’e, a woman of incredible beauty who drank an elixir of everlasting life and chose to spend eternity living on the moon. The presentation explored the Chinese tradition of appreciating the moon during the festival and of course the famous mooncake –a delicious treat of conserved fruit and egg with various ingredients. Junchi and Jiaxing’s presentation was filled with audience interaction, who were asked which moon-themed poems and songs they knew. Attendees enthusiastically joined in, reciting poems and singing songs, miraculously transforming the atmosphere of a 300+ crowd into a giant campfire circle - there was even a Brazilian member of the crowd singing about the moon in Portuguese!
Spell Of The Fragrance - Wanlin Dance Academy
The Wanlin Dance Academy took to the stage again to perform this beautiful dance act originating from the Han dynasty of Chinese history. The dancers were dressed in Hanfu dress, the style of clothing popular during the period and throughout the ages.
Poetry reading - Professor Li Hongyan reads Prelude to a Water Melody by Su Shi
After the Wanlin Dance Academy left the stage, Professor Hongyan Li, the Vice President of the China Television Broadcasting Association and a SCI visiting scholar, took to the stage to read a poem by Su Shi. The poem, Prelude to a Water Melody, was written by Su Shi on the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, a harvest festival on the full moon, to express his homesickness after a seven-year separation from his brother. Su Shi is one of the most popular Chinese poets of all time, and certainly one of the best-known poets of the Song Dynasty. Professor Li did full justice to the poem, as the whole room was so silent that you could hear a pin drop.
Hanfu Fashion Show
The final act of the night left the room spinning, with a host of models from the Wanlin Dance Academy and the university community donning Hanfu and delivering a stunning fashion show using the stage as a catwalk. Traditionally, Hanfu featured a robe or shirt as the upper garment, complemented by a pleated silk skirt as the lower garment. The revival of Hanfu isn’t just about clothing; it’s a revival of the distinct ideology, culture, art and aesthetics of the Han nation through its unique dress system. This extraordinary fashion show offered our audience a chance to engage with this timeless tradition and step into the world of traditional clothing, creating new memories, and forging connections with a heritage that spans millennia.
As the fashion show ended, so did the event as a whole - the audience left the elegant environs of Firth Hall with fresh knowledge of Chinese culture, the Mid-Autumn Festival and the continued resolve of the Sheffield Confucius Institute to continue as the champion of Chinese cultural awareness in the city of Sheffield. Here’s to many more successes in a bright future of learning, sharing and discovery.
Photo credit: Yu Wang
Instagram: yuna_000wy
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