Foreign students experience of making handmade mooncakes

As the Mid-Autumn Festival approaches, the International Exchange College of Heze University organized foreign students to visit Gaogang Town in Mudan District and held a folk experience activity titled "Making Mooncakes Together and Sharing the Mid-Autumn Festival". In the rural atmosphere, they savored the meaning of family reunion during the Mid-Autumn Festival.

At the event site, the pastry chef first explained to the foreign students the origin of the Mid-Autumn Festival, the customs of moon appreciation and eating mooncakes, introduced the cultural connotation of mooncakes symbolizing reunion and happiness, and demonstrated the traditional mooncake-making skills of southwestern Shandong. Then, the dough was kneaded, the dough pieces were divided, the dough was rolled out, the filling was wrapped, the mold was pressed, and one after another, mooncakes with exquisite patterns were formed. Students from various countries gathered around the operation table, carefully imitated and learned, carefully wrapped the filling, and forcefully pressed the mold. One after another, the mooncakes with exquisite patterns were formed. Although the techniques were still a bit clumsy, many mooncakes were distorted in shape, but everyone was in high spirits, showing each other's works and the laughter and joy were continuous in the scene.

After the fresh mooncakes were made, the whole room was filled with fragrant aroma. Everyone tasted the mooncakes they made by themselves and exchanged Mid-Autumn Festival blessings. "This is my second time making mooncakes, it's very meaningful!" The foreign students participating in the activity all said that they had only heard about the Mid-Autumn Festival and mooncakes before. This personal practice made them truly understand the cultural core of Mid-Autumn Festival reunion and truly felt the unique charm of Chinese traditional culture. In the future, they will share this Mid-Autumn Festival experience with their relatives and friends in their hometowns and be good messengers of cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries.

This activity used food as a medium, moved the classroom to the rural front line, allowed foreign students to closely experience rural China, read Chinese excellent traditional culture in practice, enhance the understanding and friendship between Chinese and foreign youth, and showcase the open and inclusive rural style of Gaogang Town.