On Mid-Autumn Day, I have a date with the moon

In the night of October 2, a Chinese and foreign literature reading salon – Read a book about the moon was hosted by WKU in Nantang Epoch Art Museum. Foreign teachers from WKU and Wenzhou local culture personages shared the meaning of the moon in Chinese and foreign literature with the theme of “moon” with almost a hundred citizens on the site.

Western moon

During this activity, Charles Greenberg, Chief Librarian of WKU and Stacey Duff, professor of WKU, interpreted “western moon” from western literature and popular culture.

Stacey Duff is a poet, art critics and translator. He compared the different images of moon reflected in Chinese and foreign poetry and analyzed the difference between Chinese and westerners in using images of moon. He took the poems themed on “seeking pleasure while you are young “ of Zhu Ziqing from China and A.E. Housman from England for example,  and explained that Chinese and westerners shared common emotional feelings on the moon although Chinese and western culture differed greatly.

Before coming to Wenzhou, Charles Greenberg once took office in the library of Yale University and Columbia University. In this night, he introduced one of his first books which was the first book related to the moon in his life shared several American popular music reflecting the image of moon.

Chinese moon

Wenzhou local culture personages focused on Chinese culture to interpret the image of moon in classic culture.

Nan Hang, a poet, once published “The ferry-boat sails by itself”, “Xie Lingyun” and other books. Tonight, he revealed Chinese people’s praise and expectation on beautiful life and emotion through images of moon reflected in Chinese classic poetry, such as “The Book of Songs – Moonrise”, “Prelude To Water Melody” and “Huai Nan Zi”.

Wu Xiaomeng, Vice Director of Wenzhou Book Club Association and President of “Ou Zhi Sheng” Reading club, shared an important image of the poet Li Bai – the moon through “The poet of Li Bai and the moon”.

For this salon, the museum also prepared a mini book exhibition and recommended a lot of books related to the “moon” to citizens. During National Day holidays, citizens could also read books recommended by WKU in the library.