It's now the evening of September 1st, but I haven't written anything yet.
Now it's September 8th, and after another week, I finally come to write the summary for August. The day after tomorrow is the Mid-Autumn Festival, which also happens to be Teacher's Day; the two holidays coincidentally overlap, so I can introduce them together here.
The Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Moon Festival, Moonlight Festival, Moon Evening, Autumn Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, Moon Worship Festival, Moon Lady Festival, Moonlight Festival, and Reunion Festival, is a traditional folk festival in China. The Mid-Autumn Festival originates from celestial worship and has evolved from the ancient autumn evening moon worship. Since ancient times, there have been customs such as moon worship, moon appreciation, eating mooncakes, watching lanterns, enjoying osmanthus flowers, and drinking osmanthus wine, which have been passed down to this day and continue to thrive. The Mid-Autumn Festival originated in ancient times, became popular during the Han Dynasty, and took shape in the Tang Dynasty. The Mid-Autumn Festival is a combination of autumn seasonal customs, and most of the festive elements it contains have ancient origins. Moon worship, as one of the important rituals for celebrating the festival, gradually evolved into activities such as moon appreciation and moon praise. The Mid-Autumn Festival symbolizes reunion through the fullness of the moon, expressing longing for one's hometown and loved ones, and praying for a good harvest and happiness, becoming a rich and precious cultural heritage. Initially, the festival period of the "Moon Worship Festival" was set on the "Autumn Equinox," one of the twenty-four solar terms in the traditional calendar, but it was later moved to the fifteenth day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar. The Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the four major traditional festivals in China, alongside the Spring Festival, Qingming Festival, and Dragon Boat Festival.
Teacher's Day aims to acknowledge the contributions of teachers to education. In modern Chinese history, several dates have been recognized as Teacher's Day. It wasn't until 1985, when the ninth meeting of the Standing Committee of the Sixth National People's Congress passed the State Council's proposal to establish Teacher's Day, that September 10, 1985, was officially designated as China's first Teacher's Day. Since Teacher's Day is not a traditional Chinese festival, different regions celebrate it with various activities each year, without a unified or fixed format. Governments and schools may hold Teacher's Day celebration and commendation meetings, awarding teachers with bonuses and certificates; organize performances by students and dance troupes for teachers; visit and express gratitude to teacher representatives; and organize collective oaths for newly hired teachers. Students may spontaneously participate through original creations, writing blessings on bulletin boards, greeting cards, and paintings; or share group photos and reflections on personal spaces and Weibo to express sincere wishes and heartfelt greetings to teachers.
Speaking of the Mid-Autumn Festival, I have almost always spent it at school, and activities like moon appreciation have rarely taken place. Mooncakes aren't bad, but the types I like are relatively uncommon, so I can only say, "Who first saw the moon by the river? In what year did the river moon first shine on people? Life goes on endlessly, and the river moon looks the same year after year." As for Teacher's Day, the atmosphere was most intense in elementary school, followed by middle school, then high school, and in university, hardly anyone talks about this holiday anymore, perhaps overshadowed by the Mid-Autumn Festival. I remember that most of the bulletin boards in elementary school were handled by me, so the special edition for Teacher's Day was no exception.
Without further ado, let's summarize last month. Last time I mentioned that August in Luzhou was unbearably hot, and the air conditioner broke for a few days, but fortunately, it was repaired. Later, I came to Wuhan, where the temperature never reached 39 degrees or above again. Although it wasn't exactly cool, it was much more comfortable than Luzhou, and autumn arrived smoothly afterward. I always feel that the events that happened in the first week of September are more numerous and memorable than those in the entire month of August. For example, the earthquake in Luding; I'm not sure if there's a scientific reason for a major earthquake following a severe drought, but the people of Sichuan have truly had a tough time these past two months. Another example is that I encountered some difficulties in reimbursing the procurement costs for the Rubik's Cube robot project, performing well in a competition, and thinking about future work matters, which won't be easy either.
On another note, I also started picking up Japanese in August and hope to keep it up, especially since our school has added a JLPT testing site. During the holiday, I made some progress in piano under my teacher's guidance, but unfortunately, I didn't choose piano class this semester after school started, so I don't know how many practice opportunities I'll have.
Let's wrap up the August summary here. After September comes October, and I'll be another year older. We'll talk again then, over.