Basic Information You Should Know 

There are seven main official public holidays in China, lucky for all you international students in China. They are Spring Festival or Chinese New Year, Qingming Festival, Labour Day, Dragon Boat Festival, National Day, of course the January 1st international New Year’s day, and coming up is the Mid-Autumn Festival that you could get three days off thanks to it. The Mid-Autumn Festival falls on the 15th day of August on the Chinese lunar calendar each year when the moon is at its fullest. In 2021 it falls on September 21st of the Gregorian calendar.

The origin of the Mid-Autumn Festival can be traced back over thousands of years of Chinese history. Chinese emperors would give sacrifice and worship the moon in autumn hoping that it would herald a prosperous and plentiful harvest the coming year in the Zhou dynasty(1045-221BC). It was during the Song dynasty (960-1279AD) that the Mid-Autumn Festival was widely recognized and celebrated, and it has become a Chinese public holiday since 2008.

There is even well known folk legend associated with the festival but we won’t get into that now, you can read for yourself later through the following link: 

https://www.instantmandarin.com/news/chinese_tales_the_story_of_mid-autumn_festival

...

Let’s enjoy the classic poetry 

You can also find a huge quantities of ancient poems related to the Mid-Autumn Festival, one of the most classic poems is named ‘Prelude to Water Melody - When the Moon Put Up’ by Su Shi. It is a regular fixture in Chinese textbooks in junior high school. Here is the poem:

Water Melody - When the Moon Put Up

When will the bright moon appear? Ask the sky with wine. I wonder what year it is in the palace in the sky. I want to ride the wind and go home, but I fear that the heights will be lonely. Dance to see the shadow, what in the world.

When parting comes, people have joys and sorrows, months have ups and downs, such as moonlight and vicissitudes. I wish we can share this beautiful moonlight for a long time.

What’s more, there’s a song whose lyric is formed with that poem. I can say that you’re definitely going to love the melody sang by Teresa Teng, who is known as the most popular female singer in China. C heck out the music video via the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvnj_J_dO9s

You can certainly see and feel from the poem and song how important a role the moon plays in Chinese culture and how it has come to represent family reunion during this special time.  

...

Yummy, Yummy 

One of the Mid-Autumn Festival customs is eating delicious mooncakes. The traditional mooncakes differ from province to province, we’ll introduce you three of the most representative types. You’ll be able to eat mooncake wherever you are in China. 

Cantonese mooncake

Cantonese mooncake which is widespread throughout the country originated in Guangdong province. For Chinese If you type “mooncake” on your keyboard, the emoji displayed automatically is Cantonese mooncake. The main characteristics of it are heavy oil, thin skin and lots of filling. Cantonese mooncakes have exquisite ingredients, which are delicious and varied. They are not easily broken, easy to carry and preserve. Therefore, they are very popular in the domestic and international food markets. 

Su mooncake 

Su mooncake originated in Suzhou, Jiangsu province and is favored by people in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. The skin of Su mooncake is crispy, with beautiful color outside and the filling inside is fat but not greasy. Su mooncake selection of raw and auxiliary materials is exquisite, rich in local characteristics. 

Beijing type mooncake 

Beijing type mooncake is one of the representative varieties of mooncakes in North China, originating in Beijing and Tianjin and surrounding areas. Its main characteristic is sweetness and the skin filling ratio are moderate. Beijing type mooncake uses sesame oil, tastes sweet and crispy.

Among the regional varieties of mooncakes in China there are also more and more new flavours and fillings. Traditionally mooncakes will have a tasty filling of lotus seed paste and egg yolk, or red bean paste or jujube paste mixed with nuts, with even more delicious combinations now. As mooncakes become more and more popular around the world, more and more international types of mooncakes can be found in the market. Here are two of them.

French mooncake

The French mooncake is the perfect fusion of the spirit of the Mid-Autumn festival and the French traditional style of cake making and baking.It has a variety of flavors such as cheese, chocolate, hazelnut, strawberry, blueberry, cranberry, cherry and so on. The taste of it is mellow, delicious, soft and delicate, which is similar to French pastry.

Snow skin mooncake

The main reason for the name snow skin mooncake is that its making method is different from the traditional way of making mooncake. All traditional mooncakes are made with syrup skin and the color of them is golden, while snow skin mooncake is partly made from glutinous rice and that’s the reason why it has a white appearance. The characteristic is that the crust of the snow skin mooncake doesn’t need to be baked, it should be frozen before eating.

...

What should an International Student in China do during the Mid-Autumn Festival?

Go out into the evening with friends to witness and admire the fullness of the moon, make a phone call to your family, and of course try a variety of different flavoured mooncakes and stuff yourself with your favourite filling. 

...

Has reading all about the Mid-Autumn festival got you interested in coming to Study in China and experience the festivities for real? Do you want to get your Bachelor's, Master's or PhD in China? Get in touch and we can help :)