malawian girl xia meili: looking forward to china's traditional festivals
2024-09-13
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our reporter jie yazhen and correspondent sun lihua
prepare 30 portions of five-nut mooncakes and lotus seed paste mooncakes, make festive theme banners, buy special decorations... the mid-autumn festival is approaching, and the desk of xia meili, a malaysian employee of the malawi office of china railway 20th bureau group, is filled with a list of preparations for the mid-autumn festival gala.
"i will be the chief planner of this year's mid-autumn festival gala." xia meili said excitedly. in previous years, mid-autumn festival activities were prepared by chinese colleagues; this year, the gala plans to incorporate some local cultural characteristics. after hearing about it, xia meili took the initiative to volunteer. "i am familiar with local bands and dances, and i just planned my own wedding. i want to do something for everyone." xia meili is full of confidence, and because she has the support of the team behind her, "my chinese colleagues will help me." in addition, xia meili, who studied in china for three years, also has a better understanding of chinese traditional culture. "mooncakes are the core of the mid-autumn festival, representing reunion and longing. in order to let my colleagues taste the best mooncakes during the mid-autumn festival, i have tried no less than 30 mooncakes in the past few days."
in addition to inviting local employees to dance local malawi dances, the highlight of xia meili's mid-autumn festival gala was for chinese and malawi employees to sing the chinese song "may we live long together" together. "i learned this song when i was studying in china and i like it very much. this song is a beautiful wish for reunion."
when xia meili was a teenager, her elder sister who was studying in china described to her a friendly, civilized, beautiful, rich and culturally profound china. her sister said that in china, there are subways and high-speed trains for travel, and online platforms such as taobao and pinduoduo for shopping. there are many beautiful items, and you can pay by scanning the wechat code without cash, making life very convenient. "these are very attractive to me, because we don't have these in malawi. since then, i have been full of yearning for china."
in september 2017, xia meili received a chinese government scholarship to study abroad at the university of international business and economics and beijing technology and business university. her teacher gave her a chinese name, "xia meili". "i like this name very much and have been using it. i have also truly enjoyed the conveniences my sister mentioned. now, many of my things, including computers, mobile phones, beautiful clothes, bags, etc., are bought from china."
xia meili especially remembers the first mid-autumn festival she celebrated in china. at the mid-autumn festival gathering, friends from all over the world made moon cakes and admired the moon together, and listened to chinese friends tell the story of chang'e. "i was very moved when we were watching the moon. more than a dozen of us from different african countries sat under the moonlight, looking at the moon in the sky, missing our families in africa. at that time, i understood the meaning of the mid-autumn festival - 'sharing the beauty of the moon from thousands of miles away', and i was full of expectations for china's traditional festivals." xia meili smiled. although it has been 7 years, she still remembers the taste of her first bite of moon cake, which was a five-nut moon cake, and it was delicious.
at the beginning of 2020, xia meili returned to china after completing her studies. "i was pleasantly surprised to see that with the deepening exchanges between the two countries, more and more chinese companies have come to malawi to help us build our hometown." in september 2022, xia meili was hired by china railway 20th bureau as a human resources administrative assistant. "i am very glad that my fate with china has continued."
after joining china railway 20th bureau for three years, xia meili not only did her job well under the guidance of chinese masters, but also fell in love with shaanxi cuisine. "most of my chinese colleagues are from shaanxi. under their influence, i learned how to pull noodles and steam a few soft and glutinous cold noodles." xia meili also wore a colorful string made for the dragon boat festival, which symbolizes luck.
the mid-autumn festival is in malawi's dry season, with moderate temperatures and less rain, making it a good time for construction. the asphalt pavement of the kapatenga-bengga highway in malawi, which is being built by china railway 20th bureau, is being laid, and many employees will stay on the front line during the festival. "i have contacted chinese supermarkets to prepare 150 souvenirs, including moon cakes, osmanthus cakes, and some fruits, which will be delivered to the construction site on the day of the mid-autumn festival." xia meili said that china emphasizes unity and friendship, and care for no one should be left behind.
"when will the bright moon appear? i raise my cup to ask the sky..." in her spare time, xia meili gathers several local employees to practice singing "may we live long" every day. she hopes that through the joint performance of chinese and malawi employees, she can express her wish for everlasting friendship between china and malawi. "i believe that the friendship between malawi and china will be as beautiful as my name, forever."
