On October 9, 2025, McGill students, faculty, and members of the Montreal Chinese community gathered at Thompson House to celebrate the Moon Festival with poetry, music, and moon cakes.
After an hour of mingling over snacks and drinks, the crowd settled in for an evening of poetry and performances. In front of a full room of audience, students and community members took turns sharing their favourite poems. In choirs, duets, and solos, people also brighten up the room by performing Chinese pop classics, such as Teresa Tung’s “Yueliang daibiao wode xin (The Moon Represents My Heart).”
Anne-Sophie, a student in the Chinese program, recited a poem by Tang dynasty poet Zhang Jiuling. Titled “Wangyue huaiyuan (Looking at the Moon and Thinking of One Far Away),” the poem held personal significance to the student as it reminded them of their birth parents in China as a Chinese adoptee.
Adding a funny twist to the evening, student Alexandra performed Alexander Pushkin’s “An Oka Tree Greening by the Ocean” in Russian, joking that they hadn’t realized that the recital were meant to feature Chinese poems. Although the language is different, the shared experiences of connecting with loved ones through poetry came through as the performance was warmly received.
The night wrapped up with a concluding remark from Bill Wang laoshi, the Senior Faculty Lecturer of Chinese in the department of East Asian Studies.
This event is hosted by the Chinese Language Program in the Department of East Asian Studies, with sponsorship by Foo-hooa se 復華詩 (Renaissance of Chinese Poetry) and the Centre for Global Chinese Studies.