Chinese Halloween

November 2, 2017

On November 2nd, the Department of Foreign Languages of Texas Southern University, with the Western Halloween as the citation organization of teachers and students to carry out the "Ghost Festival" series of lectures, Confucius Institute as a foreign language department of the Chinese language discipline project representatives to actively participate among them.

The Spanish project's theme, "El día de muertos", illustrated the origins, cultural implications and customs of Mexico's Day of the Dead with a unique perspective on Mexican culture, and introduced Similarities and differences between the Day of the Dead and Halloween; the French project team's theme is "La Commémoration des fidèles défunts". France's All Souls Day and Mexico's Day of the Dead are all on November 1. Students from French-speaking clubs presented the entire faculty and students the origins and related culture of all-spirituals in French-speaking cultures The Chinese project group is based on the traditional Chinese Cold Food Festival, Ching Ming Festival and Chinese Yuan Day. The Confucius Institute distributes the kite-chest emblem with the Confucius Institute logo to all student listeners.

Raven and Stephanie from the Chinese primary group A and Kelen and Kalan from group B talked to listeners from the story of Tui Jiezhi, students listened the sacrificial ancestors and deceased customs of Chinese culture in terms of their origins, customs, diet and "filial piety".During the speech, Raven and Stephanie briefed the audience about the Ching Ming Festival Food Youth Corps and gave a taste of the Youth Corps to the students. Kelen and Kalan demonstrated to the audience the Chinese's memory of their ancestors by burning paper money. Finally, through the way of questioning the content of the speech, aroused the enthusiasm of the students. Students raised their hands to answer questions and expressed their satisfaction with what they learned in this speech.

The speech of the Department of Foreign Languages lasted from 10 am to 12 pm. The lectures of the three languages of Chinese, Spanish and French were carried out in sub-forums. After the lecture, free lunches were prepared by the three languages, Spanish, French and Chinese. Confucius Institute provided the fried rice and spring rolls, and won the praise from teachers and students.

In the Chinese culture, the Ching Ming Festival and the Chinese Yuan Festival are different from the Day of the Dead in most Western countries on the date. However, Western Halloween, the All Souls' Day or the Dead Festival, the Cold Food Festival in China, Like the Ching Ming Festival and the Culture of the Central Yuan Dynasty, they are all memory for death. Confucius Institute at Texas Southern University actively participated in the foreign language college project and organized student representatives to participate in the speeches. During the preparation of the speech, the student representatives learned more about the cultural background and customs of China's memory of ancestors. Students by listening to speeches, viewing panels, answering questions with the speakers and tasting food had a certain understanding for Chinese Culture.