A young Sinologist in Malta has recently celebrated the Mid-Autumn Festival together with Chinese culture lovers in the capital city of Valletta, expressing the hope that inclusiveness and solidarity embodied by the traditional festival will help bridge differences among different cultures.
Maltese literature translator Salvatore Giuffre began to learn Chinese when he was a teenager and has obtained master's and doctor's degrees in Chinese from the University of Bologna in Italy and the University of Lyon in France, respectively.
Since 2013, he has been to China many times for short-term study or cultural exchange activities.
"This [the folding fan] is something I really, really like. I bought it in Kaifeng City [of central China's Henan Province]. I love Chinese culture and ancient Chinese architecture very much," he told China Central Television (CCTV) in an interview prior to the Mid-Autmun Festival this year.
Giuffre spent around two years translating the first Maltese version of ancient Chinese book "The Analects of Confucius," a collection of ideas and sayings from the ancient Chinese philosopher Confucius (551 B.C.-479 B.C.), and published it in November 2022.
In order to maintain the terse style of the original, classical Chinese version, while making the ideas contained in the anthology easier for Maltese readers to understand, Giuffre added a lot of comments and explanations in his translation.
"We know that the Chinese culture values the concept of 'friendship.' So, my friends and I will get together to celebrate festivals like the Mid-Autumn Festival," he said.
A celebration event featuring mainly poem recitals and music performance was held on Friday night in Valletta to mark the millennium-old Chinese festival.
The festival, in honor of the moon and harvest, is one of the most important Chinese festivals for family reunion. It is celebrated on the 15th day of the eighth month on the Chinese lunar calendar. It falls on Tuesday this year.
Hosted by the China Cultural Center in Malta, the event brought together Chinese and Maltese participants to exchange well-wishes for each other and for a deeper and lasting friendship between the two nations.
Donning traditional Han clothing brought back from China, Giuffre recited a Chinese poem "Spring River in the Flower Moon Night" written in the 7th-century. He also explained to the audience the scene of poetic beauty and imagination the poem vividly portrays.
Giuffre said he believes that the concept of solidarity and inclusiveness in Chinese culture can help people narrow divisions.
"We get together with our Chinese friends today to admire the moon. We're happy to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival together. If people live and work together, which is really great, we will have fewer and fewer problems," said Giuffre.
Maltese sinologist hopes inclusiveness, solidarity in Chinese culture can bridge differences
