Manchester's Mid-Autumn festival celebrates China-UK friendship

It’s the second most important time of the year for Chinese people. The Mid-Autumn festival celebrates family, honors ancestors and promotes harmony and friendship.

And that friendship is evident on the streets of Manchester where, under leaden skies, the Chinese community is coming together to celebrate not just their own relationships and family, but the wider, enduring friendship between China and the UK.

The Lord Mayor of Manchester, Carmine Grimshaw, has been coming to Manchester's Chinatown for over 50 years, to eat, to chat and to make friends.

"Mid Autumn Festival is about harmony, about bringing people together," he tells me. "And remembering families. And I think that embraces the spirit of Manchester itself." The city prides itself on the way it embraces other cultures and has welcomed Chinese people here for generations.

The Consul General of China in Manchester, Tang Rui, thinks China and the UK need each other now, more than ever, in this post-Brexit world.

"In today's world we face uncertainties and challenges,” he says. "I think China plays a very important role in maintaining stability and plays an active role in dealing with today's challenges. The UK is also a very important player in the world and I think the two countries maintain a cooperative, practical relationship."

Manchester's festival is a frenetic mix of Chinese performers - from stars of Peking Opera to Chinese rap music - to a celebration of Chinese food… to a sharing of ancient Chinese crafts. You can learn ancient calligraphy here. You can create your own beautifully painted wooden fans. You can have your fortune told. And you can eat moon cakes. The tasty sweet or savoury cakes are as much a part of Mid-Autumn Festival as Mince Pies are a part of Christmas. Their round shape symbolizes completeness and family unity, aligning with the festival's focus on reunion.

The tradition also honors ancient legends, like the tale of Chang'e, who became the moon goddess, with mooncakes representing the full moon itself. Here in Manchester, the heavens are on everyone’s minds. Not so much the moon, as the driving rain that sends festival-goers huddling for shelter. But no matter what the British weather throws at them, Manchester's Chinese community has a message that remains undampened. It's a message of friendship. Of harmony. And of love.