Islamabad-RIS students along with faculty members, staff and other representatives of different social groups joined their Chinese brethren in Pakistan on Wednesday at the festivities of ‘Zhong Qiu Jie’, also known as the Mid-Autumn Festival, celebrated at National University of Modern Languages (NUML).

Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations were arranged by Confucius Institute Islamabad (CII) and NUML in collaboration with Embassy of Peoples’ Republic of China. The chief guests of the event were NUML Rector Major General (R) Zia ud Din Najam HI (M), Rector NUML and Brig Muhammad Ibrahim, Director General NUML along with heads of other universities language department and it was attended by the students and faculty members of Chinese Department and CII, NUML, and other academic institutions including National University of Science and Technology (NUST), COMSATS Islamabad, City School, Beacon House, Lynx School.

The purpose of celebration was to express our solidarity with all Chinese nationals who are serving Pakistan under different capacities and to convey that they should not feel alone as Pakistan is their home and they are our family. The symbol of this festival ‘Full Bright Moon’ is also analogous to our exemplary strong relations, which are higher than the Himalayas and deeper than the oceans.

The mid-autumn Chinese festival was a well-organized exhibition, inculcating different activities for the students and several acts were also performed by the Chinese nationals. The representatives exhibited their food traditions by engaging RIS students as well. Furthermore, the Chinese medicines history, arts and calligraphy was also exhibited in different sections. The exuberant display of traditional Chinese dresses motivated the students to try on themselves and take pictures to save in their memories. The execution of this event attracted Roots International Students to its maximum and they expressed their affection for the culture and language by their performance in which they entertained the audience by singing the Chinese song “Waving National Flag”.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is celebrated on August 15 of the lunar calendar and it is one of the traditional festivals in China. It is time for family members and loved ones to congregate and enjoy the full moon, which is an auspicious symbol of abundance, harmony and luck. Families have dinners together and everyone enjoys having Moon Cakes for desserts. Chinese people who live far away from homes want to go back to have a family reunion.

ROOTS Chinese Language Department (RCLD) aims to reduce language barrier by promoting the language of future and building a strong bond between Pakistan and China. RCLD is one of the active departments of roots.

 The department aims to build up a network to awaken students’ interest and enthusiasm for Chinese Mandarin and Chinese society. It offers a unique frame of activities and programmes alongside Chinese language courses. It gives a platform to students to excel and explore multiple opportunities. RCLD actively monitors the performance of teachers and students to evaluate their contribution, further improvement and quality assurance. RCLD keeps a check on all activities and assesses overall performance. It ensures the selection, conduction and completion of curriculum in time. It maintains the activities including Chinese language teaching, student and teacher exchange programs, cultural activities and competitions and professional teaching programs to raise the productivity level.

RCLD is headed by Walid Mushtaq, CEO of Roots International schools. The man of principle! He is the founder of Chinese language programme with high spirits and unshakable faith joined hands with Confucius Institute to facilitate students with the best learning procedures and to expose them to international environment by arranging tours to China to enrich them with Chinese traditions and customs. He believes in giving students opportunities of learning and strengthening their capabilities to adjust in a multicultural society. His visionary approach towards foreign language promotion has yielded results in the form of expansion and growth of Roots Chinese language department. He has played a pivotal role in promoting foreign languages and cultures incentives to students by delivering enough resources and infrastructure. He played a key role in establishing partnership and collaboration with international education bodies. He has been providing global exposure to his students by sending them to international competitions. This is because of his efforts and coordination that department is flourishing and prospering day by day.