Students Celebrates Chinese Festival in Tanzania

By Xinhua 

September 30, 2023

A Kenyan dressed in a Chinese opera costume poses for a photo during a Chinese cultural event held at the Kenya National Theater in Nairobi, Kenya, Nov. 28, 2022. Launched by Chinese Embassy in Kenya, Kenya Cultural Center and Confucius Institute at the University of Nairobi, an event themed with Chinese opera was held at the Kenya National Theater on Monday in Nairobi.(Photo: Xinhua)

More than 200 Tanzanian students, who are learning the Chinese language at Baobab Secondary School in Bagamoyo District of Coast Region, celebrated China’s Mid-Autumn Festival with pomp and pageantry on Friday.

The students marked the festival, which fell on Sept. 29 this year in accordance with the Chinese lunar calendar, with traditional Chinese music, dance, drama, and poetry as well as the preparation of mooncakes.

The students were joined by teachers from the Confucius Institute at the state-run University of Dar es Salaam and other guests.

Zhang Xiaozhen, Chinese director of the Confucius Institute at the University of Dar es Salaam, noted that the celebration of the Mid-Autumn Festival went in tandem with the commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the Confucius Institute in Tanzania.

Venance Hongoa, headmaster of Baobab Secondary School, said the celebration helped to enhance the students’ understanding of Chinese culture.

Hongoa added that the Confucius Institute has been organizing summer camp programs for Tanzanian students to visit China and learn more about Chinese culture, which encouraged more Tanzanian students to learn the Chinese language.

Sharjah Sadick Yasini, 17, a student of Baobab Secondary School, shared her summer camp experience in China this year, saying her visit to China in June helped her learn more about the Chinese language and Chinese culture, including martial arts and traditional food.

Joseph Kazembe, a retired civil servant and Tanzania’s first Chinese translator, shared his work experience and talked about the friendship between the two countries, especially the story of the Chinese-built Tanzania-Zambia Railway, which has strengthened cooperation between Africa and China.