Thirty people attended our event “Drinks, Poetry & Moonrise” on Wednesday night.
This first of its kind HSS event straddles science and culture, highlighting the essence of the Mid-Autumn festival. Mid-Autumn festival (中秋节）is associated with the fables of Chang’er (嫦娥) , Houyi (后羿), Jade Rabbit (玉兔) & Wugang (吴刚) ; lantern quizzes (打灯迷) that see wisdom permeating within the community ; and the historical significance of secret messages within mooncakes that culminated in the founding of the Ming Dynasty.
The scientific activity of photographing the moonrise was de-emphasized, for participants did not bringing their own cameras, but the chief culprit was the shy moon herself, preferring to hide behind the overcast sky for most of the evening. Mooncakes, pomelo, water-caltrop (菱角) , drinks and good conversation took over naturally, before Huifen brought on her poetry recital.
