One of the things I knew would be part of moving to China was learning about a new culture. Of course, knowing that intellectually and actually experiencing it are two very different things. Over these first few months in Beijing, I have found myself asking a lot of questions, trying new foods, learning new traditions, and occasionally realizing that something everyone around me understands perfectly is completely new and literally foreign to me.
The Mid-Autumn Festival is one of those things.
As the festival has approached, I have enjoyed learning more about what it means and why it holds such an important place in Chinese culture. There are mooncakes, lanterns, family gatherings, and, of course, the full moon. I am still very much a newcomer to all of this, but what has struck me most is how much of the festival centers around a pretty universal idea: being connected to the people we care about.
One of the traditional stories associated with the festival is the legend of Hou Yi and Chang’e. As the story goes, Hou Yi was a skilled archer who saved the world by shooting down nine of the ten suns that were scorching the earth. As a reward, he received an elixir that would grant immortality, but he chose not to take it because doing so would mean leaving his wife, Chang’e. Eventually, Chang’e drank the elixir and rose to the moon, separating the two of them. Hou Yi later placed foods she loved outside beneath the moon as a way of remembering and honoring her.
There are different versions of the story, as there often are with legends that have been told for generations, but the part that has stayed with me is the idea of looking at the same moon and feeling connected to someone who is far away.
That idea obviously resonates with me this year.
Moving to Beijing has been an incredible experience, but moving also means leaving people behind. There are family members and friends who are now thousands of miles away, former colleagues whose lives I was once part of every day, and a community in Costa Rica that was home for eleven years. At the same time, there are new relationships beginning here. I have been welcomed by colleagues who reached out before I even arrived, students who have stopped to introduce themselves or share something they are excited about, and people who have patiently helped me navigate everything from a new school to a new city.
I am learning that distance changes relationships, but it doesn’t necessarily diminish them. A video call with old friends (shout out to Tom, Reagan, and Nat, and Katie) can make Costa Rica feel a little closer. A conversation with someone new can make Beijing feel a little more like home. The geography may be different, but the things that create connection really aren’t.
I have been thinking about that at school as well. BCIS is a community filled with different experiences, languages, traditions, and perspectives. Most of our students are Chinese, while our faculty and staff come from China and many other places around the world. One of the things I am beginning to appreciate about BCIS is that we are constantly learning not only with one another, but about one another.
That requires some intentionality.
It is easy to work beside someone every day without really knowing much about the experiences that have shaped them. Schools are busy places, and there is always another meeting, assignment, activity, or deadline competing for our attention. But community grows in the moments when we slow down enough to ask a question, listen to someone’s story, share something of ourselves, or participate in a tradition that may not originally be our own.
For me, celebrating Mid-Autumn Festival this year is partly about doing exactly that. I am not Chinese, and I am certainly not going to pretend that a few weeks in Beijing have made me an expert on a tradition that families here have celebrated for generations. But I can be curious, listen, and participate. And I can appreciate the opportunity to better understand the culture of the community I now call home.
There is one other part of the festival that I particularly like. The full moon has long represented reunion and togetherness. I find something comforting in the idea that people separated by enormous distances can step outside, look up, and see the same moon.
So this Mid-Autumn Festival, I am looking forward to experiencing something new. I’ll spend time with my new community, learn a little more about a tradition I am only beginning to understand, and almost certainly eat a mooncake or two.
I’ll also take a moment to look up at the moon. And when I do, I suspect I’ll think about people in a few different parts of the world. Some are people I have known for decades. Others I met only a few weeks ago. All of them, in different ways, are part of what makes a place feel like home.
Happy Mid-Autumn Festival.
Garrenteed Learning 