The Middle-Autumn festival cannot be celebrated without mooncakes, a popular and typical Middle-Autumn festival treat. On 14^th September, The Nottingham Confucius Institute China Ningbo Branch and the Student Affairs Office jointly organized the Mooncake making party in provost’s villa.

The evening was of great fun, 20 student reps including 10 Chinese and 10 international students, senior members of the University and the Champion of Mandarin speech competition organized by Tianyi Pavilion, Dougal Macbeth, participated this activity.

After the welcome speech by the Provost Professor Chris Rudd and the introduction of Confucius Institute by the director of Confucius Institute Professor Shujie Yao, Students and staff joined together in teams to make mooncakes with the guidance from the Master Chef, and three international student reps shared their fascinating stories of living, learning and volunteering in China. Mooncakes from different groups were appraised by the Master Chef and 10 best mooncake makers were awarded by Professor Uwe Aickelin with exquisite gift.

The party deeply annotated the meaning of traditional Chinese Mid-autumn festival under un international setting by making the typical festival food together, enhanced the communication between the Chinese and international students and narrowed the distance between staff and freshmen. "We are not just enjoying studying at UNNC, but more appreciate the way we treat each other like family or very close friends, we enjoy the reunion and gathering experience so much”, many of the attendees claimed.