China has reiterated its commitment to work closely with Nigeria to build a shared future for mutual benefit.

Li Xuda, the Cultural Counsellor of the Chinese Embassy in Nigeria, said this in his address at the Mid-Autumn Festival Celebration in Abuja.

The event, tagged “2023 Moon Festival Celebrations: A Moment to Remember”, was organised by the Chinese Cultural Centre in Nigeria.

Mr Li, also the director of the centre, said the festival has been one of the most important holidays in Chinese culture for the past 3,000 years.

“Today’s celebration is very important and meaningful because Mid-Autumn, also called ‘the Mooncake Day’, is one of the most important Chinese traditional festivals.

“In this festival, we celebrate family reunion, friendship, and togetherness, like the popular proverb in Nigeria, even in Africa.

“It says you can go faster if you go alone; you can go far if you go together. I think China and Nigeria will really go together.

“To stand hand-by-hand, shoulder-to-shoulder, we will create a better future that belongs to our people and benefits our two countries,” he said.

The director said that the festival was often celebrated annually on the 15th day of the eighth month of the Chinese lunar calendar with a full moon at night.

Speaking, Muhammad Sulaiman, the National President of the Society of Nigerian Artists, lauded the organisers of the festival for their efforts in promoting Nigeria-China relations.

The artist’s boss described the cultural fusion between Nigeria and China as educational, saying it had been of benefit to many Nigerians.

“The reunion centered on what the two nations have been doing together.

“What China has done many years in the past is that it has been able to establish itself, and they want to assist with what Nigeria must always take advantage of.

“There are many hundreds of ways that China has been assisting Nigeria, besides security and other areas.

“What is fair is to have a community of a whole nation that supports you in educating you. Over 15,000 Nigerians have benefitted from this,” Mr Sulaiman said.

Also speaking, Tang Wen Ting, deputy head of the Chinese troop in Nigeria, expressed hope that China and Nigeria would work together through cultural fusion to achieve meaningful progress.

“I hope together we can advance our culture through music by artists and deepen our friendship forever. I like the blue sky; we enjoyed it, as well as Nigerians,” Mr Tang said.

A participant, Virtue Abah, an SS2 student of Government Day Secondary School, Dutse, in Bwari Area Council of the FCT, expressed appreciation to China for the event.

“I love everything about Chinese; I love their dance, the way they move their bodies, they are flexible, and I expect more people should learn about them.

“The Federal Government should work closely with Chinese people; it should continue to carry out this event and learn from them too,” she said.

The highlight of the event was a music rendition by blooming flowers, the full moon, and omo-puma by the Sichuan Symphony Orchestra and the Nigerian Obliz Ensemble, as well as acrobatics ‘face changing’ by the Sichuan opera acrobat.

There was also music titled “Together as One” by Drum Majors for Peace, bamboo flute ‘New Melody for Herdsmen’, and group dance by Ma Dobgfeng, among others.

(NAN)