BEIJING, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- For Kubanychbekova Bermet, an international student in north China's Tianjin Municipality, inviting her family in Kyrgyzstan to admire the moon has become a regular habit.
This simple gesture captures the spirit of the Mid-Autumn Festival, one of China's most treasured traditional holidays. Celebrated annually on the 15th day of the eighth month in the Chinese lunar calendar, it falls on Sept. 25 this year.
Beneath the same moon and sharing its gentle glow, the festival centers on one powerful idea: reunion. A sentiment once seen as distinctly Chinese is now resonating far beyond the country's borders.
As China's inbound travel booms, foreigners are not just experiencing the Mid-Autumn Festival, but embracing it deeply, finding their own meaning in its traditions.
For many, the journey into the Mid-Autumn Festival begins with a mooncake and Chang'e, the moon goddess in a Chinese fairy tale.
"When I celebrated Mid-Autumn Festival for the first time in China, our teacher told us the story of Chang'e, saying that no matter how far apart family members are, as long as they gaze at the same moon, they are together," said Bermet. "I missed home so much that day, almost to tears, but my heart felt warm."
Back then, Bermet had never even heard of mooncakes. That changed when a classmate handed her one filled with lotus paste and a salted egg yolk.
"Desserts are always sweet in Kyrgyzstan, so I never imagined a mooncake could hide something salty inside," she recalled. "Now I can tell all kinds of mooncakes apart. It gives me a real sense of accomplishment."
"The mooncake's round shape stands for reunion, and the egg yolk is like the moon," Bermet said. "During China's traditional festivals, even the food tells a story."
At Northwestern Polytechnical University in northwest China's Shaanxi Province, Russian student Dubiniwa Viktoriia pressed dough and shaped it in a mold. Her face lit up as she finished making a mooncake.
"I thought it would be hard. But with my teacher's help, it was fun. The mooncake I made tastes perfect," Viktoriia said. "Here, a mooncake is not just food. It's a symbol of family coming together."
Nearly 300 international students joined the campus festival, listening to stories about the holiday, making mooncakes and lanterns.
The festival's appeal extends to foreign travelers as well. With China making it easier to visit by expanding visa-free policies, more international visitors are getting firsthand experience of the country and its culture.
Official data showed that foreign nationals made nearly 61.29 million border crossings in the January-August period, up 19.5 percent from a year earlier.
Popular tourist spots and restaurants in Xi'an, the capital of Shaanxi, have rolled out various Mid-Autumn cultural experiences. Foreign visitors have flocked to enjoy China's traditional song-and-dance performances and local delicacies.
They also got hands-on with making mooncakes, dumplings and lacquer fans. German visitor Laura is one of them.
"The round shape symbolizes reunion and the patterns pressed into its crust carry wishes for a good life," Laura told Xinhua when making a mooncake for the first time. "You can see how much Chinese people treasure family. That feels very close to us Germans."
"The Mid-Autumn Festival embraces both personal moments and human aspirations. It carries the warmth of everyday life, as well as a broader vision for global harmony and peace," said Li Nan, vice dean of the School of Communication at Tianjin Foreign Studies University.
Beatrice Faustina Jesslyn, an Indonesian student who has spent two years in China, shared a similar sentiment. This year, she joined the Mid-Autumn Festival gala at Tianjin University, having rehearsed for the performance for days.
"We come from different countries, yet we sing together in Chinese. To me, that itself feels like 'reunion,'" Jesslyn said. "Besides the performance, we also make mooncakes, guess riddles and admire the moon."
But what touched her most was being invited into a Chinese friend's home for a Mid-Autumn Festival meal.
"Though far from my family in Indonesia, I felt at home in China," Jesslyn said. "It was that experience that helped me truly embrace the festival and understand why it means so much to Chinese people."
This deepening cultural connection mirrors a broader shift in how the world views China. A July survey by the Pew Research Center found that a median of 46 percent of respondents across the 20 countries surveyed annually since 2023 held a favorable view of China, up from 32 percent in 2023.
As the festival night settles over China, thousands of lanterns glow and countless phones are raised toward the same bright disc.
"It speaks of a single moon, yet reflects the longing and hopes we all share. It tells the story of home, yet stirs a universal human yearning for belonging," said Wang Yi, an associate professor at Tianjin University. "That is why this festival can touch everyone."
Bermet added that the moon is even woven into their language. Many Kyrgyz girls carry the word for moon in their names. "In my country, the moon also stands for longing. So when Chinese people look up and miss home, I understand it at once."
As they told Xinhua, the moon knows no borders, and neither does longing. ■
