{"id":16839,"date":"2021-09-20T14:20:11","date_gmt":"2021-09-20T18:20:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/?p=16839"},"modified":"2021-09-20T14:20:11","modified_gmt":"2021-09-20T18:20:11","slug":"moon-cakes-a-mid-autumn-festival-tradition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/moon-cakes-a-mid-autumn-festival-tradition\/","title":{"rendered":"Moon Cakes: A Mid-Autumn Festival Tradition"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today is the Mid-Autumn Festival. This is an important traditional Chinese festival. It is the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month of each year<\/strong> (\u4eca\u5929\u662f\u4e2d\u79cb\u8282\u3002 \u8fd9\u662f\u4e2d\u56fd\u91cd\u8981\u7684\u4f20\u7edf\u8282\u65e5\u3002 \u4e3a\u6bcf\u5e74\u7684\u519c\u5386\u516b\u6708\u5341\u4e94\u3002 j\u012bn ti\u0101n sh\u00ec zh\u014dng qi\u016b ji\u00e9. zh\u00e8 sh\u00ec zh\u014dng gu\u00f3 zh\u00f2ng y\u00e0o de chu\u00e1n t\u01d2ng ji\u00e9 r\u00ec. w\u00e8i m\u011bi ni\u00e1n de n\u00f3ng l\u00ec b\u0101 yu\u00e8 sh\u00ed w\u01d4). Whenever you ask someone from China to describe this holiday, it’s a guarantee they will tell you all about moon cakes<\/strong> (\u6708\u997c yu\u00e8 b\u01d0ng). In this post, we’ll learn about this traditional snack, but first here’s a little information on the holiday itself.<\/p>\n

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Image by a2004b12c17<\/a> from Pixabay<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

An Intro to Mid-Autumn Festival<\/h2>\n

The Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the oldest holidays in China, dating back 3,000 years to the Shang Dynasty<\/strong>\u00a0(\u5546\u671d sh\u0101ng ch\u00e1o). Mid-Autumn first appeared in the Rites of Zhou<\/em><\/strong> (\u4e2d\u79cb\u6700\u65e9\u51fa\u73fe\u4e8e\u5468\u79ae\u3002 zh\u014dng qi\u016b zu\u00ec z\u01ceo ch\u016b xi\u00e0n y\u00fa zh\u014du l\u01d0). This was one of three ancient texts listed among the classics of Confucianism.<\/p>\n

The festival became more popular in the following Tang Dynasty<\/strong> (\u5510\u671d t\u00e1ng ch\u00e1o), as people celebrated the harvest moon and the bounties it brought. During the Song Dynasty<\/strong> (\u5b8b\u671d s\u00f2ng ch\u00e1o), an official holiday was established. Later on during the Ming and Qing<\/strong> (\u660e\u6e05 m\u00edng q\u012bng) period, it became one of the most important festivals in China.<\/p>\n

As is the case with most Chinese holidays, there’s an interesting legend behind the Mid-Autumn Festival. You can read about it in this post I wrote a few years back:<\/p>\n

A Guide to the Mid-Autumn Festival<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n