People across globe hold colorful activities to celebrate Mid-Autumn Festival

As the Mid-Autumn Festival approaches, vibrant celebrations are taking place around the globe, allowing people from various countries to experience and appreciate the charm of Chinese culture.

The Mid-Autumn Festival, observed on the 15th day of the eighth month in the Chinese lunar calendar, is a treasured time for family reunions. This year, it falls on Tuesday. The festival is typically celebrated with family gatherings, moon viewing, and the enjoyment of mooncakes, a traditional pastry associated with the occasion.

In Brazil's biggest city Sao Paulo, the Mid-Autumn Festival carnival infused the city with festive energy on Saturday. The Wuju Opera Troupe from east China's Jinhua City performed traditional dragon dances and the "Golden Monkey Welcomes Spring" show.

At a dedicated Chinese cultural corridor, local residents had the chance to immerse in traditional Chinese arts, such as calligraphy, paper cutting, and ink painting.

On Sunday, a special Mid-Autumn Gala themed "Night of the Waterfalls," was held in Foz do Iguacu, the Brazilian side of the Iguazu Falls. Chinese expatriates and local residents experienced the intricacies of Chinese culture and traditions.

In Hungary, two Mid-Autumn Festival activities - the "Mooncake Workshop" and the "Mid-Autumn Garden Party" were held at the Chinese Cultural Center in the capital city of Budapest on Saturday.

The Mooncake Workshop gave locals the opportunity to learn the art of making traditional flower mooncakes and snow-skin mooncakes. At the same time, the Mid-Autumn Garden Party featured a variety of interactive Chinese cultural activities, offering guests a deeper understanding of Chinese festival customs.

"I feel that there's always new things to learn about China. It has such a vast history and culture, all sorts of things, and also like geographically there are a lot of different ethnicities with all the different customs. So it's very fascinating to me," said Anna, one of the locals.

Meanwhile, countries such as Jordan and Myanmar hosted a variety of Mid-Autumn Festival activities, including exhibitions of intangible cultural heritage, poetry recitations, and artistic performances.

People across globe hold colorful activities to celebrate Mid-Autumn Festival

China's electricity consumption, a key barometer of economic activity, rose six percent year on year in April, official data showed Tuesday.

Power use totaled 820.5 billion kilowatt-hours last month, according to the National Energy Administration.

A breakdown of the data showed that power consumed by the primary industry rose 2 percent year on year to 11.2 billion kilowatt-hours, while power consumed by the secondary industry increased 5.3 percent to 558.4 billion kilowatt-hours.

Within the secondary industry, industrial power use rose 5.5 percent year on year to 553.8 billion kilowatt-hours, while electricity consumption by high-tech equipment manufacturing climbed 10.1 percent to 105 billion kilowatt-hours.

Power used by the tertiary industry reached 151.7 billion kilowatt-hours in April, up 8.9 percent year on year. The charging and battery swapping service sector and internet data services reported rapid growth in electricity consumption, rising 61.9 percent and 42.8 percent, respectively.

Electricity consumption by residents rose 6 percent from a year earlier to 99.2 billion kilowatt-hours.

In the first four months of the year, China's total power use exceeded 3.33 trillion kilowatt-hours, up 5.4 percent year on year, the data showed.

China's power use up 6 pct in April