Sophia Mertson
Contributing Writer
The Mid-Autumn Festival (or Zhongqiu Jie in Chinese) marks the beginning of the harvest and emphasizes the importance of family in various East and Southeast Asian cultures: occurring during the full moon which represents the unification of the family. The Sewanee Chinese Club celebrated the festival in the Smith-Cannon courtyard on September 20 to promote the importance of multiculturalism and the Chinese population of Sewanee.
The club worked to bring the essence of Chinese culture by providing Chinese food from Shan Chinese Buffet in Monteagle, with a mix of sauteed vegetables, meats drenched in delicious sauce, and noodles for students to enjoy. They also provided the signature dish of the Mid-Autumn Festival: mooncakes. Mooncakes come in a sweet and savory assortment at the end of the meal and typically have an imprint of Chinese characters for longevity or harmony on the top of the cake and are shared between family and friends. The club also provided a mask painting station.
The president of the Sewanee Chinese Club, Tianning Lyu (C’ 27), described the purpose of the Chinese club is to “help more Sewanee students learn more about Chinese culture and also help make Sewanee more diverse both culturally and language-wise.”
Bringing Chinese culture to Sewanee is essential to Lyu. “[It’s important] right now, especially after Covid, [because] we don’t have a lot of Chinese students,” she said. Lyu noted that Chinese student enrollment has dropped post-Covid since many international students had to return home during the pandemic and chose to not come back. “I am the only Chinese student in the class of 2027,” she said.
Asked about what having multicultural clubs on campus means to her, Lyu said, “I think it gives perspectives and makes it easier for you to accept certain things and understand each other…it makes you respect each other more.”
She reports that times have been hard for Chinese students on campus post-Covid. “There are a lot of stereotypes about Chinese culture and I want to try and alleviate the situation.”
The Chinese club hopes to hold more events like the Mid-Autumn Festival in the future. However, Lyu noted that the Sewanee Chinese Club could “benefit from more resources and initiatives from the school” to make more events like this happen.