Mid-Autumn Festival is celebrated each year in the southeast of Cairo, Egypt, with streets decorated, poems performed and Chinese cuisine served, while locals enjoy an evening of performances at the Chinese Cultural Center. 

Guests trying Mid-Autumn cuisine (Photos: Huang Peizhao/People's Daily)

“Mid-Autumn Festival in the Chinese Cultural Center has become a part of my life,” Aya, a graduate of Cairo University and now an employee at a Chinese translation company, told the People’s Daily. 

Locals are attracted to Mid-Autumn Festival evening programs. 

On September 28, 2017, the Chinese Cultural Center in Cairo hosted guests from China and Egypt. 

Nearly one hundred Chinese and foreign guests and friends gathered and enjoyed Chinese poetry readings, Chinese song performances, Chinese folk music and other cultural programs. 

Mohsen Fergani, an award-winning Egyptian translator, gave an informative lecture. He discussed customs rooted in legends and myths about the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Kemer from Sudan was studying at Cairo University and said that he has participated several times. He hopes that he still has the opportunity to participate in the Chinese Cultural Center this year.

"We Arabs also use the moon to name cute places, such as the Palestinian tourist city Jericho is called 'the city of the moon', the Wadi Rum Protected Area in Jordan, nicknamed the 'moon canyon', and even one of the Arab member states. Union of Comoros means 'the moon’,” Kemer said. 

Egyptian scholar giving lecture on Mid-Autumn Festival

“Egyptians are not only attracted to Chinese cuisine but to its distinctive music as well, and Chinese acrobatics also attract us to the Mid-Autumn Festival," Iman, a long-time employee at the China Cultural Center in Cairo, noted.

"Traditional culture is part of our roots. We would like to spread Chinese culture, which is an important part of Chinese society's life abroad,” said Li Xinxin, founder of the Egyptian Foreign Exchange Association.

Shi Yuewen, counselor of cultural affairs at the Chinese Embassy in Egypt, believes that through sessions like evening programs, Chinese people who are overseas could ease their homesickness and the locals may gain access to the unique Chinese culture. 

Egyptian cultural scholar Ismail said that Egyptians appreciate the Cairo Chinese Cultural Center. Its development will deepen the understanding of Chinese culture in the country, while building a solid foundation for the Belt and Road initiative.

Cover photo: Guests watching short videos on Mid-Autumn Festival

(Compiled by Dong Feng)