By Xiao Wu, Editor

Chongqing - The full moon is rising at the Mid-Autumn Festival. It is time for reunion, and what’s your plan for this Mid-Autumn Festival?

To enjoy the bright moon by the Yangtze River, to study intangible cultural heritage with foreign friends, and to make and taste mooncakes.

Jointly hosted by the Publicity Department of the CPC Chongqing Municipal Committee, Chongqing Municipal Commission of Culture and Tourism Development, and the Party Committee and Government of Banan District, the “Full of Feelings to the Full Moon, Celebration Throughout the Nation” - 2019 Mid-Autumn • Foreigner @ Chongqing Experience Intangible Cultural Heritage Activity was held at Yudong People's Square Banan District on September 11, where 4 display areas were set up, including display of intangible cultural heritage, association display, teaching experience of intangible cultural heritage and exhibition board display, inviting citizens to enjoy the Mid-Autumn Festival with family. At the site, citizens communicated and interacted with 18 international students from 11 countries, including Pakistan, Thailand, and the United States, who are studying in Sichuan International Studies University or Chongqing Jiaotong University. They learned the intangible cultural heritage and made moon cakes together.

Folk culture performance was put on stage

Mudong folk song, blow and beat chains, Jiangjia dragon dance, legends of Ba Culture, Yudong disordered needlework. In such activities, many vital inheritors of intangible cultural heritage displayed their unique intangible cultural heritage skills on the spot, allowing citizens to enjoy the authentic intangible cultural heritage performance and feel the charm of intangible cultural heritage culture.

Banan District has a long history and culture of more than 3,000 years, giving birth to lots of wonderful folk culture, in which intangible cultural heritage is one of the most brilliant pearls. Mudong folk song, blow and beat chains, Jiangjia dragon dance, legends of Ba Culture and Yudong disordered needlework are very desirable ones. In recent years, Banan District has made great efforts to protect and creatively inherit intangible cultural heritage. So far, two projects have become national intangible cultural heritage, 13 have become municipal intangible cultural heritage, and 60 have become district-level intangible cultural heritage.

Masters taught the visitors about the folk culture

To make public visitors experience more about intangible cultural heritage culture, the activity also set up a teaching experience area for intangible cultural heritage. This allows the public to interact with the inheritors and study Mudong folk song, blow and beat chains, Jiangjia dragon dance and Xiaoguan clapper-drum dance chains together, which will allow visitors to understand and experience the folk and Ba Culture. On the spot, 18 international students from 11 countries including Pakistan, Thailand, and the United States studying in Sichuan International Studies University or Chongqing Jiaotong University also communicated and interacted with the inheritors and learned about the intangible cultural heritage culture in Banan, to make Chongqing intangible cultural heritage go global.

In addition, the activity also sets up the association display area and exhibition board display area, to show the customs, origin and other traditional culture of Mid-Autumn Festival, as well as photography, works themed on the Mid-Autumn Festival and harvest, letting the traditional culture shine vitality in the inheritance.

Enjoy the fun of handwork on site

Mid-Autumn symbolizes reunion and full moon. Moon cakes make the day sweet, and good wine clinks happiness. On Mid-Autumn Festival, moon cake is a must for every family. The activity also specially set up the experience part; citizens and foreigners made the moon cakes on their own.

In addition to making moon cakes, on the spot, the activity also launched a series of intangible cultural heritage display activities. This included Yudong disordered needlework, Liu clay sculpture, Moudengde stone carving, Zhou’s traditional wooden craft, Chongqing leaf manufacture skill, Chongqing dough modeling, Wang’s fire moxibustion therapy, sugar painting, Fengsheng Town Sihe lima bean, and paper cutting. The event invites artisans and performance artists to do those on-site, which allowed visitors to experience the fun of handwork and performance of intangible cultural heritage, which made the Mid-Autumn Festival more meaningful.