CUSA hosts their annual Mid-Autumn Festival

This Saturday, the Chinese Undergraduate Student Association (CUSA) will be hosting a Mid-Autumn Festival, as they celebrate the ancient Chinese holiday with traditional Chinese cuisine and entertaining performances from students and the Chapel Hill community.

The event will be held in the Great Hall of the Student Union and will begin at 6 p.m. with tickets on sale in the Pit for $5 and at the door for $7. 

Senior and club president Carolyn Liu said she hopes that the event brings many people, and not just those of Chinese descent, and not only to give their club and culture exposure, but so they have the funds to have more free events in the future. 

“This year, our goal is to at least break even or at least make enough profit, so we have a lot more money for free events,” Liu said. 

Besides Chinese New Year, the Mid-Autumn Festival is China’s biggest holiday, making it one of CUSA’s biggest events of the year and one they have celebrated ever since the club's creation. 

“We celebrate it with a lot of lanterns," Liu said. "Most of the stuff is in the evenings. We have these things called moon cakes. They’re a traditional Chinese pastry that are completely handmade. They’re very intricate.”

Aside from the food, the biggest draw of the festival will be the traditional Chinese performances.

“We have a lot of dances this year — a lot of dances," Liu said. "We have some instrumentation playing. We’re having interactions with the audience by having games or trivia. We have some talent shows, so anything that has to do with Chinese talent."

Past examples include people who did sword dances, or dressed up as dragons and performed dragon dances.

However, the performances will not only be Chinese focused as the holiday has a strong meaning to Vietnamese students, as well. 

Vietnamese Student Association member Brandy Huynh, who will be performing a Vietnamese dance at the event, explained why the event had significance to her.

“The Mid-Autumn Festival has always been a really big part of my culture and being at college, you don’t really get to participate in that culture, and this gave me the opportunity to participate in it and give me a sense of nostalgia," she said.

CUSA Secretary Lixuan Xia said he is looking forward to seeing his friends perform.

“I think one of the biggest draws for people is that because many of the performers are UNC students," he said. "Many of their friends come to watch them perform. Personally, I would never miss out on a friend's performance."

The Mid-Autumn Festival will kick off an eventful year for CUSA. Not only are they trying to host significantly more events than they previously have had, but in November they will be collaborating with all other Asian interest clubs to put on the inaugural “API (Asian Pacific Islander) Autumn,” which will consist of a month of events promoting Asian culture. 

Right now, though, members of CUSA hope to see many UNC students at the Mid-Autumn Festival.

“It’s fun," said Liu. "We have everything planned out. It’s going to be very pretty, and we really want to get to know people this year.”

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