Thanksgiving comes early in China.
Compared with its American counterpart, the Mid-Autumn Festival starts about two months prior to the latter part of November, and those who celebrate it are more likely to eat sweet pastries filled with bean paste than succulent turkeys full of stuffing.
As a prelude to the harvest-saluting holiday and its traditional partaking of mooncakes, the eighth annual Pittsburgh Chinese Cultural Festival took place Sept. 16 in Mellon Park, featuring a day full of dancing, singing, instrumental performances and martial-arts demonstrations.
The event is organized by the Pittsburgh Chinese Culture Center, a nonprofit that promotes the awareness of Chinese culture, facilitates assimilation of Chinese immigrants into the Pittsburgh community, and supports relations between Pittsburgh and China.
Among the guests on was Razin Karu, executive director of Gov. Josh Shapiro’s Commission on Asian American and Pacific Islander Affairs. He read a letter from the governor acknowledging the holiday that runs this year from Sept. 29 through the observance of Chinese National Day on Oct. 6.
“The Mid-Autumn Festival is a time to come together and recognize honor and give thanks for the bountiful agricultural harvest, as well as the Chinese community’s commitment to preserving and commemorating the rich history, culture and diversity of Chinese heritage,” Karu said.
Shapiro concluded his letter:
“It is my hope that our citizens will continue to recognize the innumerable contributions that Chinese Americans have made to our commonwealth, and I’m certain that the Chinese community’s legacy of service will continue to inspire others for years to come.”
Monroeville native Bhavini Patel, a member of Edgewood Borough Council, attended on behalf of Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald as his office’s community outreach manager.
“What a beautiful day to celebrate our Pittsburgh Chinese community,” Patel said, “and truly valuing the diversity that the Chinese community brings, not only in terms of building a more welcoming region, but also recognizing our small businesses, the robust economy they contribute to, as well as the student population we see.”
Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey presented the Pittsburgh Chinese Culture Center’s president, Dr. Ye Liang, and chairman, Dave Jiao, with a proclamation in honor of the occasion.
“When we talk about making our city safe, welcoming and thriving, we can’t do it unless we have diversity throughout or city and throughout our region,” Gainey said. “The more diverse our population, the more diverse our economy, the more diverse our business, the more diverse our friendship, and the world gets greater because we know more diversity.”
Another guest was Bill Flanagan, chief corporate relations officer for the Allegheny Conference on Community Development, who spoke about further contributions.
“The Chinese community had a presence here back in the 19th century, as the steel industry was being born. But I think the most profound impact the community has been in the last 40 or 50 years, as Pittsburgh had to find a way back from the collapse of its industrial base in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and really reinvent itself,” Flanagan said.
“We’ve reinvented it with life sciences, with science in general, with robotics and artificial intelligence, with the growth of our higher education sector, our great universities here in Pittsburgh, to create a much more diverse economy with tremendous potential for the future,” he continued.
“And I think one of the less-well-understood aspects of that has been the disproportionate impact the Chinese community has had on that transition here in Pittsburgh, especially in those scientific and technical, health care and life sciences specialties for which we’ve now carved out a global reputation.”
The Pittsburgh Chinese Cultural Festival is one of two seasonal events organized by the cultural center, with the New Year Gala taking place in January, this year Downtown at the Pittsburgh Playhouse.
For more information about the Pittsburgh Chinese Culture Center, visit pghccc.org.
