Archive keepers show how festival was celebrated

The First Historical Archives of China has recently held activities to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival, which fell on Tuesday this year.

On Thursday, in Beijing No 11 Middle School, students attended lectures organized by the archives about how the imperial family in the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties spent the festival. Archive records of this time were discussed, and students also learned to make lanterns in the shape of rabbits.

On Friday, people went to the archives to view a concert, make lanterns, listen to lectures about archives and play touhu, an ancient game in which contestants throw arrows into wine pitchers.

Over the generations, Chinese people engaged in the tradition of watching the moon, eating moon cakes and making beautiful lanterns during Mid-Autumn Festival.

According to Gao Jianping, deputy director of The First Historical Archives of China, the activities were an attempt to bring life to the documents they store and combine them with music and the culture of traditional Chinese festival.