Auckland's Chinese Community Marks a Mid-Autumn Season: Some 400 Students and Staff Celebrate at the University of Auckland
AUCKLAND — The University of Auckland hosted a Mid-Autumn Festival celebration on September 25, drawing about 400 faculty members and students. The event was organised by the Auckland University Students' Association (AUSA) and attended by Martin Hookham-Simms, director of the university's International Office, and Wang Junchao, China's acting consul general in Auckland.
The programme featured hands-on cultural activities including Chinese calligraphy and Hanfu try-on sessions, while the Chinese Consulate-General's booth offered Mid-Autumn quizzes and mooncakes that drew a steady stream of participants. In his remarks, Wang said Chinese culture has become an important part of New Zealand's multicultural society and that continued people-to-people exchanges keep bringing the two peoples closer, expressing hope that Chinese students and local young people would deepen mutual understanding through such activities.
The campus celebration was one stop in a season of Mid-Autumn events across Auckland's Chinese community. On September 12, the Chinese Consulate-General in Auckland held a reception marking both the 77th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China and the Mid-Autumn Festival, attended by Consul General Chen Shijie and more than 400 representatives from political, business, academic and community circles as well as the consular corps. Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown and several members of New Zealand's Parliament addressed the reception, Hamilton's mayor sent a congratulatory letter, and New Zealand guests praised the Chinese community's contributions to the country's economic and social development. On September 13, the New Zealand Guangzhou Chinese Association Inc. held its 2026 Mid-Autumn and National Day celebration, attended by around 240 people including MP Carlos Cheung; Chen commended the association for uniting the community and promoting China-New Zealand friendship, and said the consulate would continue to provide consular services and safeguard community members' legitimate rights and interests. The gathering also featured cultural performances.
Auckland is home to New Zealand's largest Chinese community, in a country with about 230,000 ethnic Chinese residents (2018 census). Mid-Autumn is one of the community's most important traditional festivals of the year, and this season's celebrations ranged from association banquets and an official reception to a university campus event, drawing long-settled migrants, new arrivals, local students and guests from many backgrounds.
Source: Compiled from the Chinese Foreign Ministry's September 18, 2026 report on the Guangzhou association celebration and the Chinese Consulate-General in Auckland's September and October 2026 releases on the National Day reception and the University of Auckland event.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 奥克兰灯节上的京剧脸谱灯笼（场景图），CC BY-SA 2.0（Wikimedia Commons，摄影：russellstreet）
