Northwestern hosts Mid-Autumn Festival celebration for Chinese students across seven Illinois universities

On Saturday, Oct. 1, a group of 80 Chinese language students and instructors from seven universities around Illinois gathered for a luncheon on Northwestern’s Evanston campus to celebrate the Autumn Festival. Participating institutions included The University of Chicago, Loyola University, DePaul University, Lake Forest College, North Central College and The University of Illinois, Chicago. 

During the event, students sang Chinese songs and demonstrated Chinese folk dances. They also used questionnaires in Chinese to share their experience learning the language. Questions included: 

• “What are the best ways to learn Chinese?”
• “How do you improve your writing skills?
• “What Chinese movies would you recommend?”

Along with faculty from each university, Mr. Zhao Jian, the Chinese Consul General in Chicago and five of his colleagues from the Education Department of the Chinese Consulate also attended the event. The officials commended the students for participating in the Midwest Chinese Speech Contest and brought moon cakes, a traditional gift given during Mid-Autumn to express well wishes.

According to Licheng Gu, Professor of Instruction at Northwestern’s Department of Asian Languages and Cultures and East Asia Liaison at the Office of International Relations, “All the students were able to gain first-hand experience talking to native Chinese speakers. This was a great way for our students to learn from students from other universities, and converse with others who speak Chinese regularly.”