In keeping with a tradition that goes back over a 1000 years, the Mid Autumn Festival is celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th month of the Chinese calendar. The local name for it is the Moon Cake Festival. This year it’s happening on 19 September. It is a truly family-oriented festival which is about celebrating the years’ harvest. The Check- IT students celebrate it on 18 September from 15.00 to 17.00.

Shirley from Nijmegen and Charlotte from Xiamen explain some of the backgrounds of the festival and tell me what’s going to happen in the afternoon. There will be a sort of race in which the different teams are saddled up with imposing quantities of presents they have bought; chocolate, chips, cans of beer, soft drink, handkerchiefs, notepads, and of course the moon cakes, which are a sort of moon-shaped pastry with a sweet filling. It all looks like loads of fun. Afterwards they all head off to their apartments loaded up with presents. Sharmelly, Shirley, Sally, Mark, Art and the Chinese students Lily and Rainy head off instead to the Jianyiqiang Piano Training Institute in order to finalise an agreement about their project. Work must go on!

Jan Dankers