Chinese acrobats twisted and twirled in front of a packed house at Pjazza Teatru Rjal as the China Cultural Centre celebrated the Moon Festival while paying tribute to the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.

The Moon Festival is China’s second most-anticipated festival and is determined by astronomical observations of the sun’s longitude and the moon’s phases.

Owing to the moon’s symbolic wholeness, the mid-autumn festival is widely associated with sentimental connotations of unity, reunion and the transmission of affection through the far-reaching moonlight to loved ones living abroad.

Outdoor entertainment and artistic performances under a bright moon-lit sky are an all-time favourite means of celebrating this annual festivity.

Held at Valletta’s open-air theatre, Magnificent – Chinese Acrobatic Performance presented a fusion of acrobatics forged from the folk arts and ethnic cultures of the Guangxi province, a southern autonomous region.

The protagonists were the Guangxi Acro-batic Troupe, who have been performing for 67 years but continue to reinvent themselves and perfect their techniques.

The participating athletes stunned the over 800 audience members with their abilities in plate-spinning, aerial acrobatics, hoop dives and straw hat-juggling to the tune of various Chinese melodies.

Present among the audience were Dolores Cristina, Acting President of Malta, Chinese Ambassador Jiang Jiang, Yang Xiaolong, director of the China Cultural Centre and Christopher Muscat, director of Pjazza Teatru Rjal.

A week before the performance, Beautiful China: Man, Nature and Harmony − A Photo Exhibition was displayed around the theatre, presenting the natural and cultural landscapes of different regions and styles of China.

Locals and foreigners packed Pjazza Teatru Rjal last Thursday for the acrobatic performance.

The Guangxi Acrobatic Troupe presented stunning movements during Magnificent – Chinese Acrobatic Performance.