The Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival

Today, Monday September 12th, is the Mid-Autumn Festival. Many businesses are closed and Heinz has the day off. Here is a description of the background of the holiday, taken from Wikipedia {with editorial comments by me added in brackets, in italics}:

The Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋節), also known as the Moon Festival is a popular harvest festival celebrated by Chinese, Taiwanese, and Vietnamese people. Dating back over 3,000 years to moon worship in China's Shang Dynasty, it was first called Zhongqiu Jie (literally "Mid-Autumn Festival") in the Zhou Dynasty. In Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines, it is also sometimes referred to as the Lantern Festival or Mooncake Festival.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is held on the 15th day of the eighth month in the Chinese calendar, which is in September or early October in the Gregorian calendar. It is a date that parallels the autumnal equinox of the solar calendar, when the moon is at its fullest and roundest. The traditional food of this festival is the mooncake, of which there are many different varieties. The Chinese festival is very traditional and a great way to celebrate.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the few most important holidays in the Chinese calendar. Farmers celebrate the end of the fall harvesting season on this date. Traditionally on this day, Chinese family members and friends will gather to admire the bright mid-autumn harvest moon, and eat moon cakes under the moon together.

Celebration of the Mid-Autumn Festival is strongly associated with the legend of Houyi and Chang’e, the Moon Goddess of Immortality. Tradition places these two figures from Chinese mythology at around 2200 BCE, during the reign of the legendary Emperor Yao, shortly after that of Huangdi. Unlike many lunar deities in other cultures who personify the moon, Chang'e simply lives on the moon but is not the moon per se. Shops selling moon cakes before the festival often display pictures of Chang’e floating to the moon.

{Best I can understand, Houyi and Chang’e are immortals who get on the bad side of the Gods, are banished from Heaven, try to reclaim their immortality through the Elixir of Life (in some versions of the legends this is where the Jade Rabbit comes in, helping Chang'e) and Chang’e ends up stuck between Heaven and Earth, on the Moon . The descriptions of the legend that I have found are rambling, incredible, have so many variants and are quite simply not terribly interesting enough to warrant inclusion here…}

The Hare or The Jade Rabbit {have you ever noticed “the bunny in the moon”?}   According to tradition, the Jade Rabbit pounds the Elixir, together with the lady, Chang'e, for the gods. Others say that the Jade Rabbit is a shape, assumed by Chang'e herself. The dark areas to the top of the full moon may be construed as the figure of a rabbit. The animal's ears point to the upper right, while at the left are two large circular areas, representing its head and body. In Chinese folklore, it is often portrayed as a companion of Chang'e, constantly pounding the elixir of life for her.


Overthrow of Mongol rule    According to a widespread folk tale (not necessarily supported by historical records), the Mid-Autumn Festival commemorates an uprising in China against the Mongol rulers of the Yuan Dynasty (1280–1368) in the 14th century. As group gatherings were banned, it was impossible to make plans for a rebellion. Noting that the Mongols did not eat mooncakes, Liu Bowen (劉伯溫) of Zhejiang Province, advisor to the Chinese rebel leader Zhu Yuanzhang, came up with the idea of timing the rebellion to coincide with the Mid-Autumn Festival. He sought permission to distribute thousands of moon cakes to the Chinese residents in the city to bless the longevity of the Mongol emperor. Inside each cake, however, was inserted a piece of paper with the message: "Kill the Mongols on the 15th day of the 8th month". On the night of the Moon Festival, the rebels successfully attacked and overthrew the government. What followed was the establishment of the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644), under Zhu. Henceforth, the Mid-Autumn Festival was celebrated with moon cakes on a national level.


Mooncake (月饼; yuè bĭng) Typical mooncakes are round or rectangular pastries, measuring about 10 cm in diameter and 4–5 cm thick. A thick filling usually made from lotus seed paste is surrounded by a relatively thin (2–3 mm) crust and may contain yolks from salted duck eggs. Mooncakes are usually eaten in small wedges accompanied by Chinese tea. Today, it is customary for businessmen and families to present them to their clients or relatives as presents, helping to fuel a demand for high-end mooncake styles. Mooncake energy content can vary with the filling and size; the average moon cake carries 800 to 1200 kcal, mainly from fats and sugar. {Oh my!!!}

• Lotus seed paste (蓮蓉, lían róng): Considered by some to be the original and most luxurious mooncake filling, lotus paste filling is found in all types of mooncakes. Due to the high price of lotus paste, white kidney bean paste is sometimes used as a filler.
• Sweet bean paste (豆沙, dòu shā): A number of pastes are common fillings found in Chinese desserts. Although red bean paste, made from azuki beans, is the most common worldwide, there are regional and original preferences for bean paste made from mung beans, as well as black beans, known throughout history.
• Jujube paste (棗泥, zǎo ní): A sweet paste is made from the ripe fruits of the jujube (date) plant. The paste is dark red in color, a little fruity/smoky in flavor, and slightly sour in taste. Depending on the quality of the paste, jujube paste may be confused with red bean paste, which is sometimes used as a filler.
• Five kernel (五仁, wǔ rén): A filling consisting of 5 types of nuts and seeds, coarsely chopped, is held together with maltose syrup. Recipes differ from region to region, but commonly used nuts and seeds include: walnuts, pumpkin seeds, watermelon seeds, peanuts, sesame seeds, or almonds. In addition, the mixture will usually contain candied winter melon, jinhua ham, or pieces of rock sugar as additional flavoring.


Most mooncakes consist of a thin, tender skin enveloping a sweet, dense filling, and may contain one or more whole salted egg yolks in its center to symbolise the full moon. Very rarely, mooncakes are also served steamed or fried.

Traditional mooncakes have an imprint on top consisting of the Chinese characters for "longevity" or "harmony", as well as the name of the bakery and the filling inside. Imprints of the moon, the Chang'e woman on the moon, flowers, vines, or a rabbit (symbol of the moon) may surround the characters for additional decoration.
{End Wikipedia}

Basically, moon cakes are everywhere, in every store, packaged individually and in decorative boxes of 4 or more, ranging in price from 30 cents a piece to about $15 a piece. And when you are out and about the majority of the people walking around seem to have carrier bags filled with gift boxes. In honor of the holiday, our driver gave us some from Marco Polo, a local high-end, bakery/pastry shop. They were beautifully packaged

and I suspect they were quite expensive. They are very elegantly shaped, and I wish I knew what the characters on them actually said.

But the simple fact is that I find them revolting. (I think I understand why the Mongols didn't eat them either!) They are very dense and have a very heavy brown, earthy flavor. I really don’t know how else to describe it, but try to imagine what lotus seed or bean paste might taste like.

Ick. It coats your tongue and it is difficult to rid your mouth of it, if you are brave enough to try them. I guess if I drank Chinese tea I could wash it down with that. I feel bad because as I said, I suspect Mr. Bian paid a lot for them and we will likely end up giving them away.

He also gave us a nice bottle of Australian Shiraz and a little goodie bag with the following:

I have no idea what these are, perhaps a green tea candy? They seem to be a hard chewy candy, like a toffee or a caramel. (But not like the kind of toffees that I can eat by the handful!) I haven’t had the courage to put one in my mouth, the smell is not very enticing to me. And these:

This in particular cracks me up because on the package it says “dried pineapple” but when I opened it I found these little yogurt cups with these strange, clear, gelatin-like blocks in it, not actually any fruit at all.

So somewhere between Bentonville and here (Yes, we have a WalMart here in Shanghai…, hence the Members Mark brand) the pineapple morphed, I guess? I have to laugh: maybe he thought “It’s an American product, surely they will like it”. Maybe the kids will eat it….Either way, it was a very nice gesture on his part!

So the Fall Harvest is officially ended. Put your feet up with the farmers, take a break and admire the harvest moon with a nice mooncake and some Chinese Tea.        Or not.