ETSU students got to share an important piece of Chinese culture on Sunday.

  • (Photograph by Ben Gilliam / East Tennessean)
  • (Photograph by Ben Gilliam / East Tennessean)

The Mid Autumn Festival, or Zhong Qiu Jie (中秋节), marks the middle of fall on the Chinese lunar calendar and is celebrated in China and abroad. ETSU’s Multicultural Center and students brought the celebrations to campus with puzzles, games, gifts and more. Students got the chance to try their skills at games like shuttlecock kicking, ping pong and Jenga in exchange for stickers that could get them gifts like fans, chopsticks or Chinese knots (中国结).

The event is sponsored and supported by many groups including local restaurant Magic Wok, the International Buccaneer Buddies, the International Students Association and the Chinese Students and Scholars Association.

“I would say that this kind of event is more to help both local students and Chinese students to communicate,” said ISA Officer Jiajun Li. “There is a stereotype like Chinese students don’t talk to people, like American people, so we want to just show that we are also part of campus.”

Jiajun, also known as Nancy, helped serve traditional dishes to visitors and visited her friends from the IBB. 

“There’s not only Chinese culture but also other countries,” she said. “We have friends from IBB that are from all over the world. I see a very huge diversity here.”

Morgan Weathers, an International Buccaneer Buddy Leader, explained the Buddies’ role in the event. 

“The Chinese students themselves run it; we just kinda help out with whatever they need,” said Weathers. “The Multicultural Center lent out the tables and the chairs, which IBB is a little part of the umbrella of the Multicultural center. It’s really cool having different cultures. With IBB we have a holiday almost every month for some culture. So it’s really great to get to celebrate with them, because they’re not home for their holiday, and this is a big deal for them at home.”

Many student cultural representation events are run through the Multicultural Center, so make sure to visit and learn about upcoming experiences.