YOUTHTALKS YOUNG REPORTER SERIES

What attracts visitors to a Chinese cultural festival? Which foods, performances, and traditions leave the strongest impression? At the 24th Washington Chinese Culture Festival, YouthTalks young reporter Alex stepped in front of the camera and spoke with visitors and cultural representatives.

Reported and written by Alex Kejun Cao

YouthTalks Young Reporter · Team 1

My Day at the Chinese Culture Festival

Alex Kejun Cao

August 29, 2026, I went to a Chinese Culture Festival. This time, I was a reporter for Youth Talks. I stayed there from 10 in the morning until a little after 3 in the afternoon, so I had a lot of time to look around, try different activities, and interview people.

The festival was huge, and there were people everywhere. There were so many things to see. I saw people wearing traditional clothes from different Chinese ethnic groups, and I also watched a Hanfu show. I watched an erhu performance and some Peking Opera. The costumes and the music were very interesting, especially the Peking Opera costumes because they were so colorful.

I also saw a Chinese porcelain exhibition. It reminded me of my trip to Jingdezhen in Jiangxi, China, this summer. I had visited Jingdezhen and learned that it is famous for porcelain. It was kind of funny to see porcelain again in America after just seeing so much of it in China’s museum.

One of my favorite activities was trying Chinese paper cutting. I watched an old man making the paper cuttings, and he showed me how to do it. He was very patient and carefully explained what I should do. I tried it myself, and I found out that it was harder than it looked!

I also did a “passport” stamping activity. I went to different booths and got stamps in my festival passport. When I finished, I got a panda blind box. I was really happy because I like pandas and I wanted to see what was inside.

At one booth, I answered questions about famous foods from different parts of China and won a small prize. I already knew some of the answers because I have learned about different parts of China and have traveled there. It was fun to find out that things I knew could actually help me win a prize.

I also met my good friend and his parents at the festival. We did a dragon dance activity together. We tried to move the dragon at the same time, but sometimes it was not easy to keep up with each other. We laughed a lot.

Another thing I really liked was a giant dragon made from a very long piece of white paper. Visitors could draw on the paper and add to the dragon. I even met my art teacher there. I found out that he had drawn a big, fierce-looking dragon head for the project. It looked very powerful! I thought it was really cool that so many people could draw on the same long piece of paper and turn it into one giant dragon.

Of course, I also had some very important food experiences. I ate a huge meat skewer. It was much bigger than I expected, and it was delicious. I also drank strawberry lemonade, which was really refreshing after walking around so much.

During the festival, I met my Chinese school teachers, too. I was happy to see my teacher outside of school. I also spent a lot of time with the other young reporters. We took turns interviewing people, recording videos, and taking pictures. Sometimes I had to think quickly about what question to ask next. Being a reporter was more difficult than just walking around and watching things, because I had to pay attention to what people were saying and remember to record everything.

I interviewed several people and learned that festivals like this can bring people together. There were people who spoke different languages and came from different backgrounds, but they were all interested in Chinese culture. I especially liked seeing families enjoying the festival together.

我在中国文化节的一天

Alex Kejun Cao

2026年8月29日，我参加了中国文化节。这一次，我担任YouthTalks小记者。我从上午10点一直待到下午3点多，因此有充足的时间参观各个展位、体验不同的活动，还采访了许多人。

文化节的规模很大，到处都是人，也有很多精彩的内容。我看到人们身穿中国不同民族的传统服装，还观看了汉服秀、二胡演奏和京剧表演。这些服装和音乐都非常有意思。尤其是京剧服装，色彩十分鲜艳。

我还参观了中国瓷器展。这让我想起今年夏天去中国江西景德镇的旅行。我曾到过景德镇，并了解到那里以瓷器闻名。刚刚在中国的博物馆里看过那么多瓷器，回到美国又再次看到它们，感觉很有趣。

我最喜欢的活动之一是体验中国剪纸。我看到一位老爷爷正在剪纸，他还教我怎样剪。他非常有耐心，一步一步地认真告诉我应该怎么做。我亲自尝试以后，才发现剪纸看上去容易，实际上比想象中难多了！

我还参加了“文化护照”集章活动。我到不同的展位，在自己的文化节护照上收集印章。完成集章以后，我得到了一个熊猫盲盒。我特别开心，因为我很喜欢熊猫，也很想知道盲盒里面装的是什么。

在一个展位上，我回答了有关中国不同地区著名美食的问题，还赢得了一份小奖品。有些答案我本来就知道，因为我了解过中国的不同地区，也曾去过那些地方旅行。发现自己学过的知识真的可以帮助我赢得奖品，我觉得很有趣。

我还在文化节上遇到了我的好朋友和他的父母。我们一起参加了舞龙活动。大家努力让龙身同时舞动起来，但是有时候要跟上彼此的节奏并不容易，我们都笑得很开心。

另外一个让我特别喜欢的作品，是一条画在长长白纸上的巨龙。游客们都可以在纸上画画，共同完成这条龙。我甚至还在那里遇到了我的美术老师！后来我才知道，那个威武凶猛的大龙头就是他画的，看起来非常有力量。我觉得大家可以在同一张长长的纸上作画，最后共同创造出一条巨龙，真的非常酷。

当然，我在文化节上也有一些非常重要的美食体验。我吃了一大串烤肉，比我想象的还要大，而且非常好吃。我还喝了草莓柠檬水。走了那么久以后，喝上一杯真的特别清爽。

在文化节上，我还遇到了中文学校的老师。能够在学校以外的地方见到老师，我觉得很开心。我也和其他小记者一起度过了很长时间。我们轮流采访、录制视频和拍照。有时候，我必须很快想出接下来应该问什么问题。

做小记者比单纯地参观和观看节目更难，因为我必须认真听受访者说话，还要记得把所有内容都记录下来。

我采访了好几个人，也了解到这样的文化节能够让人们相聚在一起。参加文化节的人说着不同的语言，也有着不同的文化背景，但是他们都对中国文化感兴趣。我尤其喜欢看到许多家庭一起享受文化节的欢乐时光。

YouthTalks 小记者 Alex Cao 报道