BEIJING/PARIS, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- A medley of online and offline cultural interaction between Beijing and Paris was held simultaneously Tuesday night (Beijing Time) to celebrate the upcoming Mid-Autumn Festival, which falls on Oct. 1 this year.

The event, hosted by International Confucian Association (ICA) and the Foundation Prospective and Innovation (FPI), took place at Beijing's Dajue Temple and Chateau De Brinville in Paris at the same time.

In the moonlight, Chinese artists played the Chinese folk song "Jasmine Flower", and Kunqu masterpiece "The Peony Pavilion," while their French counterparts played Moonlight, a Western classical piano piece.

Participants from all walks of life interacted through cultural activities such as reciting poems and playing music.

Liu Yandong, president of ICA, and former French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin, also chairman of FPI, attended the event in Beijing and Paris respectively.

Liu extended her good wishes to Raffarin and the French people via a video link and hoped the event would boost culture exchange between China and France. She called for building a bridge of understanding, friendship and cooperation, and the determination to contribute to the fight against COVID-19.

Sounding delighted on sharing a good time with Chinese friends, Raffarin said, "Our two great civilizations could speak to each other on an equal basis. The civilizations, each enjoying thousands of years of history, respect each other. Common values bring us together," he said.

"I wish our friends in China could soon come to visit France again. I wish the pandemic is defeated so that we can meet again," he added.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is an important traditional Chinese festival celebrating reunion and harmony. Against the backdrop of the pandemic, the event aims to cherish the beautiful, harmonious and sustainable development of the world.

China is set for eight days of national holiday this year as the Mid-Autumn Festival coincides with the National Day.

ICA, founded in 1994 in Beijing, is a non-governmental international academic and cultural group. It has brought together academic organizations, experts and scholars from more than 80 countries and regions for the study of Confucianism and traditional culture. The organization is committed to becoming the inheritor of Confucianism and facilitates exchanges and dialogue among civilizations.