Just the Facts
All You Need to Know about Mid-Autumn Festival ... and More!
What exactly is the Mid-Autumn Festival?
It's Harvest Festival meets Thanksgiving meets St. Valentine's Day. The Mid-Autumn Festival focuses on the shining harvest moon, and because of this, is perhaps the most romantic of commonly celebrated Chinese festivals.
The celebration falls on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month, exactly in the middle of the autumn season --the seventh, eighth and ninth lunar months --in the Gregorian calendar, sometime around mid-September.
It's the time set aside in a busy agricultural year to enjoy the successful reaping of rice and wheat with offerings of melons, round cakes and pomegranates presented by women in honor of the moon.
At this time, the moon's orbit is at its lowest angle to the horizon, which makes it appear brighter and larger than at any other time of the year.
Originally, this was an outdoor festival. With the heavy labors of farming over, people planned a leisurely day of thanksgiving and pleasure, hiking and picnicking in the valleys and mountains. Today, it is still an occasion for outdoor reunions where friends and relatives gather together to eat mooncakes and watch the moon, its perfect round shape symbolizing familial harmony and unity.
Who's that sexy lady on the cake box?
She is Chang'e, wife of hero Houyi and we'll thank you to show a little more respect for a woman widely acknowledged by ancients as the most beautiful in heaven.
It is said on Mid-Autumn Festival Day she can be seen on her lonesome roaming the moon. But don't feel too bad for her: Like a lot of ladies in legendary folklore, she appears to have brought it all upon herself.
Here's how:
Now in heaven there was a moon, an earth and 10 ravens, each carrying one sun on its back. One day, the bad birds skipped tian and decided not to return. Thus they all appeared together. The sky burned so brightly, the very existence of all living beings on earth was threatened. People implored heaven for mercy.
The Jade Emperor summoned master archer Houyi, and told him to get those bad boys home. But Houyi had trouble convincing them and was forced to down nine.
For performing his job overzealously, Houyi was banished from heaven to lead a miserable human life on earth together with Chang'e. But Chang'e couldn't cut it. She hated the ultimate hardship posting and drove her husband to seek help from the Queen of the West.
The queen knew a good guy when she saw one and showed her appreciation by dropping off the elixir of life to Houyi. That nectar was Houyi's ticket off the earth and back to heaven.
However, Chang'e had other ideas. She cheated on her husband by swallowing the nectar while he was fast asleep.
Suddenly, she began to rise and flew all the way to the Heavenly Palace where the Jade Emperor and other immortals live. According to official Chinese sources, her unfaithfulness led to exile in a chilly lunar palace where she was condemned to a life of solitude.
But independent experts suggest Chang'e actually flew to the moon and now rules over the lunar kingdom, while her husband Houyi governs the solar realm.
The two are rumored to meet once a month on the 15th day, when the moon is brightest --the conjunction of yin and yang principles --although this could not be confirmed at presstime.
Who else hangs on the Chinese moon?
Apart from Chang'e, there is Wu Gang, the woodcutter. He is sentenced by the Jade Emperor to chopping down a cassia tree.
Unfortunately --you guessed it --every time he completes an ax cut, the tree wound miraculously closes up again.
Outside the lonely lunar palace lives a happy old deity -- Yuexialaoren --the old man in the moonlight. He's a kind of Chinese Cupid, or maybe his granddaddy.
In the old days, he was worshipped by many young people as a warm-hearted matchmaker. Couples living happily together said it was the old guy who tied an invisible red thread around their wrists and pulled them towards one another.
The most endearing character on the moon is probably the short-tailed rabbit, who pounds the elixir of immortality with a mortar and pestle underneath Wu Gang's tree.
In old Beijing, around Mid-Autumn Festival, merchants had stalls filled with clay statues of Tu'er Ye, Gentleman Rabbit. The largest run to about 2 feet tall; the smallest about an inch high.
All the rabbits have long ears and a three-cornered mouth. Some are dressed in robes and bonnets, others in military armor accentuated by large flags.
This clay sculpture used to be the first decoration purchased for the celebration table all set for a spot of moon worship. It was also a favorite children's toy.
What exactly is a mooncake?
Not so easy to answer as you might expect. The cake consists of crust and stuffing. The usual main ingredients of the crust are wheat flour, oil or fat, sugar and maltose.
Part of the flour is mixed with water to make dough, and the rest is kneaded with fat. Arranged in alternate layers, these become the crust after baking.
A variety of materials may be used for the stuffing, including ham, sausage, walnut meat, pine nuts and almond. The usual flavorings are osmanthus flowers and rose petals.
Mooncakes are normally named by the fillings they contain --assorted fruits, five nuts, rose, ham, jujube paste, salt and pepper. The stuffing, as already shown, may be either sweet or salty or mixed in taste. There are a 1,001 kinds of mooncakes made in different regions of China, but it is generally agreed that the best are produced by three schools --Jiangsu, Guangdong and Beijing.
What's the big deal about the mooncakes?
Mooncakes are round and represent the full moon. They look delicious, but many are totally disgusting. Mooncakes were also the means, according to folk legend, for overthrowing the Mongols of the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368).
The time and place for the revolution against Kublai Khan's descendants were hidden inside the mooncakes and circulated to friends and relatives at the 1353 festival.
The secretly planned midnight massacre of the Mongols led by Liu Bowen, intrepid counselor to the founding emperor Zhu Yuanzhang of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), resulted in the capture of a strategically important prefecture, hastening the downfall of the dynasty.
What do I do?
Autumn in Beijing is the golden season of the year, with dry, warm, sunny weather and clear skies to enjoy the moonlight. On the evening of Mid-Autumn Festival, people prepare plates filled with round fruit --apples, grapes and the like.
The shape of the fruits symbolizes the fullness of the moon and family harmony (now you're getting it). Adults pour tea and eat the special food of the festival -- sweet mooncakes, yuebing.
Children traditionally love the festival, as it is a good excuse to stay up late and gather round grandparents listening to ancient tales and unlikely legends.
The Mid-Autumn Festival is a family celebration and there are many outdoor activities in the city laid on especially for the event. To take part, buy some mooncakes, invite a couple of friends and check out one of the following suggested places to sit and gaze at the moonlight while munching away.
At Shichahai
| Shichahai is the oldest water area within Beijing. In summertime, Beijingers, old and young, enjoy themselves in the shade or the water. The hutong tour company's wooden boats take visitors out on the lake to catch the sunset. As night falls, a gas lamp hung on the awning is lit and a woman in qipao plays a traditional Chinese musical instrument. Mooncakes and tea can be consumed. Small paper boats are provided to hold candles. After making a wish, launch the boat. Try not to ignite the boat pre-launch. |  Click here for more details! |
Service: 10 to a boat, plus music player, 20 candles, two boxes of mooncakes.
Time: 1 and a half hours, September 23-25
Price: RMB75/person
Tel: 6615-9097, 6612-5717
Contact: Feng Jinghua
At Yangtaishan (Balcony Mountain)
Yangtaishan is famous for its full moon. Friends and family can sit together on the flat peak and sip tea. They can go fishing or set up campfire by the Riyuehu --Sun and Moon Lake. Fireworks are legal here.
Time: September 23-30
Tel: 6245-4550 (reservation during the week is preferred)
At Baiwangshan
Three kilometers to the north of Summer Palace, Baiwangshan is a serene scenic spot of west Beijing. Wangjinglou --tower for a bird's-eye view of Beijing --stands at the mountaintop.
Mid-Autumn Festival celebration will be held at Wangjinglou September 23-25. The whole moon appreciation area will be divided into business, friends, family and lovers section. Better make sure which you are before going.
Time: September 23-25
Tel: 6288-4508 (reservation preferred)
At Minghui Teahouse Dajue Temple
Minghui Teahouse lies in a quiet, carefully renovated courtyard on the temple ground of Dajue Temple in the West Mountains.
The Buddhist temple was built in 1068 and named Qingquan (Clear Spring). The fresh water from the spring is collected in the dragon pool and runs in little channels through the temple grounds, giving it a pleasant atmosphere. The old ginko tree in the courtyard is said to be more than one thousand years old.
The ancient temple is another good choice for Mid-Autumn Festival. Minghui Teahouse provides Shaoxing style buffet dinner and traditional music performance. People enjoy themselves with good food and fresh tea under the full moon.
Time: Sept. 23-25
Tel: 6246-1567, 6246-1568