Thai and Chinese communities in Bangkok are celebrating this year's Mid-Autumn Festival with activities including moonlit cruises, spicy hotpot dinners and traditional performances providing a festive experience for both locals and visitors.
The Mid-Autumn Festival, falling on Tuesday this year, is known as the "Moon Worship Festival" in Thailand. While not a public holiday, the festival is widely observed thanks to the influence of Chinese culture and the Chinese community in Thailand.
A local Chinese restaurant hosted a special celebration featuring a moonlit cruise on the Chao Phraya River, with spicy hotpot and mooncakes. The event attracted local politicians and overseas Chinese in Thailand.
"The Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival is when people celebrate. You know, they look at the full moon, and obviously exchange and give mooncake. And I think for some other people who are more traditional, they pray to the moon, and I guess, their ancestors," said Kenneth Tng Ken Ming, a Thai entrepreneur.
"We also have the tradition of eating mooncakes in Thailand. I'm delighted to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival with everyone here today. Meeting so many Chinese friends and tourists has been a great pleasure," said Chaturon Chaisang, Thailand’s former education minister.
"It's heartening to see our Chinese brands increasingly embraced by Thai friends in Thailand. This brings a unique sense of warmth and comfort to us working abroad," said Da Hongjuan, a staff member at a Chinese enterprise in Thailand.
In Bangkok’s Chinatown, traditional mooncake shops with decades of history have been serving traditional mooncakes and Chinese pastries beloved by locals, with extended business hours until 22:00 during the festival.
The China Cultural Center in Bangkok hosted a special Mid-Autumn Festival event on Sunday, bringing together people from China and Thailand to experience traditional Chinese culture.
During the event, Chinese artists showcased intangible cultural heritage while attendees enjoyed freshly made Tianjin fried dough twists and participated in making dough figurines and fabric crafts to take home as souvenirs.
"I'm thrilled to attend this event at the China Cultural Center and sample the Tianjin snacks I've never tried before. While I've celebrated the Mid-Autumn Festival in China, this is my first time participating in such festivities in Thailand. Today’s activities are wonderfully diverse and engaging," said a local resident.
In addition to the cultural heritage displays, performers from the Tianjin Arts Troupe delivered spectacular performances, including thrilling acrobatics, a ballet dance telling traditional Chinese story and a folk music performance.
The Mid-Autumn Festival, celebrated on the 15th day of the eighth month in the Chinese lunar calendar, is a cherished occasion for family reunions in China.
Thailand celebrates Mid-Autumn Festival with cruises, hotpot, performances
The China Search and Rescue Team had pulled out four survivors - three adult females and a girl - after 13 hours of hard work in Myanmar's seriously-hit Mandalay City as of 07:15 local time on Monday.
Following the devastating earthquake in Myanmar, multiple Chinese rescue teams have arrived in the disaster-stricken areas, working with local responders around the clock to search for survivors.
Arrived in Mandalay on Sunday evening, the China Search and Rescue Team employed rescue dogs to locate a trapped survivor at the Great Wall Hotel quake site and attempted to searched for the survivor inside the damaged buildings.
Facing the challenge of a collapsed lower floor in the building where the survivor were trapped, the rescue team explored various strategies before deciding to breach from below the survivor's location, clearing the debris to create an exit and carry the survivor out with a stretcher.
At 00:40 local time on Monday, the survivor, an adult female trapped for nearly 60 hours, was rescued after over five hours of relentless work, marking the first survivor rescued by the team in the city.
Without pausing for rest, the rescuers immediately moved to another nearby site at the Sky Villa apartment complex where a girl informed the team of her 29-year-old elder sister trapping in the rubble. Following the girl's guidance, the rescuers located her elder sister, who was conscious and able to communicate.
As the rescuers worked to provide the girl with food and water and strategize the rescue, aftershocks continued to shake the area.
"The building shook noticeably and then we got out," said a team member.
The team soon returned to the rubble for rescue when the aftershock subsided.
"The lives are waiting for us and we can't give up on a single sign of life," said Han Wendong, the deputy team leader.
According to the girl, she was trapped under the rubble with her elder sister in the earthquake. Being smaller, she managed to find a narrow passage to crawl out. The rescuers found the passage and tried to reach her elder sister.
"She was saying 'hurry up' and 'help.' Her younger sister was encouraging her. It's her third day trapped here today and she's been crying. After the doctor gave her some good life support, she calmed down," said Han.
At 07:15 local time on Monday, the elder sister was freed from the rubble after the team further widened the rescue passage.
The Chinese medical team immediately gave her IV fluids and wrapped her in a thermal blanket before transferring her to a stretcher.
"It took three hours to get her out, instead of two as we expected. We kept working at night till getting her out at dawn. She's only got a cut on one leg and her vital signs are very good and stable. I hope our team will continue to do more to found and save lives," said Han.
Another two survivors were rescued by the China Search and Rescue Team in Mandalay at 05:37 and 06:20 local time on Monday, respectively.
The rescued have all been sent to the hospital for treatment.
A total of 91 personnel from five civilian emergency response forces organized by China's Ministry of Emergency Management have arrived in Myanmar, and been participating in rescue operations.
Besides, a rescue team from China's Yunnan Province rescued an elderly man who had been trapped for nearly 40 hours under the rubble of a hospital in Nay Pyi Taw on Sunday. Also on Sunday, members of the Blue Sky Rescue Team from Hunan Province successfully rescued a survivor at the Mandalay Buddhist Hall in Mandalay.
The death toll from Friday's 7.9-magnitude earthquake in Myanmar has risen to 2,056, with approximately 3,900 people injured and nearly 270 reported missing, according to the country's State Administration Council Information Team on Monday.
Chinese rescuers pull 4 survivors from rubble in Mandalay on Monday morning
