Foreign friends immerse themselves in Mid-Autumn Festival traditions

During this Mid-Autumn Festival, foreign friends from Belarus, Russia, the Philippines, and other countries visited the Laocheng Caozhou Scenic Area in Mudan District, Heze City, Shandong Province, where they experienced intangible cultural heritage activities such as dough modeling, sugar painting, blown candy, and woodblock New Year prints, and participated in making Mid-Autumn Festival mooncakes.

While experiencing the intangible cultural heritage projects, foreign friends followed the instructor's explanations and demonstrations, taking turns to try their hands on. They interacted with the on-site instructors, discussing materials, tools, and symbolic meanings. During the mooncake-making session, everyone participated in filling, pressing molds, and baking, then enjoyed the mooncakes they had made themselves.

The event integrates Mid-Autumn customs with intangible cultural heritage displays, allowing foreign friends to experience the tangible forms of Chinese traditional culture through hands-on practice. A mooncake, a New Year painting, and a dough sculpture not only carry craftsmanship and flavors but also embody the collective memory of the Chinese people regarding reunion, blessings, and the aesthetics of life. Through immersive experiences, foreign friends transition from "observers" to "participants," understanding the cultural connotation of Mid-Autumn "reunion" by making it themselves. This enables Heze's intangible cultural heritage and traditional customs to be shared abroad through the warmth of their fingertips, adding a vivid footnote to enhancing cultural exchanges between China and other countries.