Mid-Autumn Festival

Yesterday was the Mid-Autumn Festival, which is one of my favorite Chinese holidays. I learned about the Chinese legend behind the Mid-Autumn Festival when I was in Hong Kong. During the 14th century, China was ruled by the Mongols. The Chinese leaders wanted to organize a rebellion, but the Mongol rulers prohibited organized meetings among the Chinese. In solution, the Chinese leaders received permission to distribute moon cakes to all Chinese citizens to “bless the longevity” of the Mongol emperor. Inside each of the moon cakes, however, was a message that read, “Kill the Mongols on the 15th day of the 8th month.” On the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, the Chinese rebels successfully overthrew the Mongol empire and the Ming Dynasty was established. Cool story, right?

Anyway, yesterday afternoon I went to a track near our apartment to go running. After I finished running, I stopped to buy some popcorn (some things never change). I was standing there talking to the owner when I heard someone yell in my direction, “My English not very good!” It was hard to disagree. :) I looked over and saw a group of people laughing. Two comments.

1. It is not uncommon for people to say random things in English to foreigners as we walk down the street. The normals are a “Hallo!” or a “Cheers!” or on special occasions (my personal favorite) “You are handsome boy!”
2. Chinese people love to hear their friends speak bad English! They laugh in a way that reminds me of the way our family laughed when Dad said “Hey Jon, good one.” :)

Moving on. I waved toward the person who had spoken in my direction and said, “No, your English is very good.” He didn’t understand. I didn’t think anything of it, and I rode my bike past them up the hill to play go ping pong. I started playing ping pong with this guy probably in his 20s and after about ten minutes that same group of people showed up. I found out they were all co-workers, and the guy I was playing with was their boss. I played for about 45 minutes with all of them watching and asking me questions. After we finished playing, they asked me to come with them to a restaurant downtown to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival. I thought quickly. I could tell I didn’t feel threatened in any way to go with them, but I also realized I would much rather bring a friend with me. I told them I would go home and shower first and then meet up with them at the restaurant. They wrote down the address, and we exchanged phone numbers.

I came home, showered, grabbed my roommate, and we called a taxi. When we got to the restaurant downtown, they were waiting outside for us. We followed them upstairs to this nice hotpot restaurant. The only word I can think to describe the next two hours is “hilarious!” We sat down and they quickly offered a toast to their “foreign friends.” It was just the first of many toasts for the night. :) I learned that there is often no rhyme or reason to a Chinese toast, but as long as I clinked cups and drank my Sprite with a smile, I was alright.


The rest of the evening we talked about everything from why we lived in China but didn’t have Chinese girlfriends (go figure, right?), the romance in Paris, why American cars are so much more affordable than Chinese cars, and how much they all loved Titanic. I had even given one of them the English name Jack earlier in the day. He was pleased. :) After we finished eating, they all took turns sitting in-between Nate and me and took pictures. After each picture, I would make the same joke saying, “Who is that really handsome person in the middle of the picture?” They died every time! It reminded me of the way we all died laughing when Dad was in rare form and said, “I think I have something in my eye. Oh, it is my finger.” :) After chatting some more, we left the restaurant, Nate and I thanked them for the fun evening, and we took a taxi home.


The evening was so fun! They were so friendly, and they were all so patient with our language abilities. Now, according to western standards, you might think what happened last night was kind of weird.
I walk down a busy street in China. A group of people yell some random English at me. We chat. I leave. I play ping pong. I see the same group again. We chat. They invite me to eat dinner that night. I agree. I go home. I grab my roommate. We take a taxi downtown. They wait for us. We eat dinner. We toast (probably around 8 times). We take pictures. We exchange phone numbers. We go home.


Okay, okay…maybe it is weird. But it is fun, and it is the Chinese way! They love meeting foreigners! They love asking questions about America, and they love to help us experience the Chinese culture. It was certainly an unexpected way to celebrate the Chinese holiday, but I am learning that the unexpected should be expected in China. 中秋节快乐！Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!