China Romance
All About China => Chinese Culture And Festivals => Topic started by: ahkiwi on August 29, 2009, 08:47:14 pm
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Mid-Autumn Festival (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-Autumn_Festival)
The moon festival will occur on October 3 2009
The Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Moon Festival, or in Chinese, Zhongqiu Jie, is a popular harvest festival celebrated by Chinese people and Vietnamese people (even though they celebrate it differently), 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.
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Every place in Kaiping [ and the rest of China ] has been selling them since I arrived back on August 8th. The hotels and the stores each have their own respective private label Moon Cakes. Supposely the best ones come from a company in Hong Kong ... "Wing Wan" [ in business for over 50 years ] ... but they don't sell them here in Kaiping oddly enough.
Surprising the prices aren't that much different than back home in Toronto, Canada [ $ 25 -30 Cdn for a box of 4 cakes ]. My fiancee wants to send 3 boxes back to my family but I mentioned that it's plentiful back in Toronto and that the postage freight will hurt the wallet ... so she agreed to send back only one box.
There are so many varieties ... the most popular are 1) black paste w/egg or 2) nut w/egg.
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Oh Man ? Here I will be leaving China on the 2nd of Oct. My poor Wife . Last year she send me two Boxes with eight in each Box with different filling's . They were so good , but very rich ... it's hard to eat two at one setting . I guess we will be eating them early ? Is that bad luck ? Anybody know ?
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It could be Arnold, especially if you eat more than 1 :icon_cool:
There are a lot of different types - Mooncakes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mooncake)
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I hope to be in China in early October. Mid-Autumn is a great time to visit and if you're there look out for any local festivals that may be happening.
Oh, and don't eat too many moon cakes :icon_cheesygrin:.
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Ahkiwi , you know I had more than one ... the first time I got to taste them . I was sitting out by the side of my House and watched the Moon come up and thinking of my Wife . I was having my Tea with them . you do need something to wash them down . Haha . I took some Photo's and send them to her the next day .
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Now that's a good idea, unless it's raining of course. They are only 4 hours behind me so I could be watching the same moon and munching on mooncakes at the same time as they are.
You are a big softy Arnold :icon_cheesygrin:
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Yeah I think Arnold will be singing the song Memory from "CATS" next.
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This festival has memories for me, it was when I was writing to "Hui" the first girl I though was gonna be serious with, a year later so much has changed for the better i should add.
I chatted to Ling about it today and she says she wishes she could share a mooncake with me in person, so sweet.
I'm gonna see if I can buy one here and eat it when shes online with me on Skype, yes I'm a sentimental old fool.
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Yes there are still many of those " Fools " like some of them might call us , but I think we're one up on them in the Love department . :heart:
Hey ... whatever works best for the individual person . But it is good to see , some of the twenty-something are/can be still very romantic . Good for them . I'll will bring home my Mooncakes for sure and eat them while looking at the same Moon as my Wife is .. at the same time . Talk about being connected even when far apart , it really work's ... for the Romantic's only of course .
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Talking of mooncakes, has anyone used chnlove to send mooncakes to their lady? I am not sure if I would get praised by my beloved for sending her some, or scolded for wasting money (I'm visiting her in October). The chnlove mooncakes are fairly expensive at $58. However, my beloved tells me they're about $20 in her town, and they are nearly $40 in London's China Town.
I'm not sure how good the chnlove cakes are either, I'm aware from my visit to Hong Kong that people will pay ridiculous prices for the highest quality cakes :icon_confused:.
Who knows if the cakes would ever arrive either, I sent an airmail parcel from the UK and it hasn't reached her yet :@.
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Brett,
Wow!! 20 dollars in China, they must have well gone up since i was there. ...that or she is talking about one of the big one's ... If you think paying 3x the price in China is a sensible thing to do, then by all means send them. As the Agency will be posting /delivering your package, the likely-hood of being delivered to her is Very Good!!....
David....
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I ate my first mooncake today. Cost 2yuan from a stall in the fruit and veg market, not bad at all. I have seen presentation box's in the local supermarket for 238 yuan. I was talking to the brother inlaw yesterday who was outraged that Haggen Dazs are now making mooncakes for sale in China. Must be money in it for the big guy's to get involved.
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Arnold,
Wow!! do something with that wall, makes it look like your living in a prison compound!! haha!!.
The salts are leeching out of the mortar too, and staining your wall block's. I think the buggers used unwashed sand, we have the same problem over here...lol!!
Apart from that .... the moon looks great!! ...lol!!
David...
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I am having a trip back to London today and will be staying there during the Autumn Festival. I have been given so many Moon Cakes to take back with me that I am sure I will be done for excess baggage!!
Paul is right the best ones are individual and sold in Markets. Anyone who has never seen the commercial preparation for the Autumn Festival will be astonished to see upmarket department stores setting up massive market stalls outside their stores just to sell Moon Cakes.
Willy
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I would be wary of the street market ones. Chinese bakeries are notorious for keeping last year's unsold Moon Cakes ... they'll cut away the outside pastry shell, freeze the interior paste filling and then re-bake to sell this year. Like anything regarding quality, you get what you pay for.
This happens not only in China but at Chinatowns in North America.
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I would be wary of the street market ones. Chinese bakeries are notorious for keeping last year's unsold Moon Cakes ... they'll cut away the outside pastry shell, freeze the interior paste filling and then re-bake to sell this year. Like anything regarding quality, you get what you pay for.
This happens not only in China but at Chinatowns in North America.
Perhaps that is the secret of a good Moon cake!! I will do my celebrations in Londons China Town - Soho/Leicester Square.
I will recuperate in London for ten days from a really busy and strenuous three months in China and prepare for the next few years here. Maybe not using so much energy in future!!!!
Willy
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I bought a mooncake in London's chinatown at the weekend. Wow, £2.50 for a single cake, it had better be most excellent!
The lanterns in chinatown are lovely, it would be nice to go there in the evening.
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In Zhuhai and Wuhan there were Mooncakes just everywhere. In the shopping malls and all the hotels.
They're expensive too. Around 200 yuan for four seemed to be about the average price for average quality.
I saw some big boxes of them for more than 2,000 yuan - I suppose they are for rich guys to show off.
It's good to visit China sometimes to see that there is some basis for the stuff you see on chnlove. When I first saw the advertisement on chnlove I thought, "Yeah, right . . . "
But back from China, I accept that it is a big deal now.
It's like their national day. The way it is celebrated there is a whole lot different to the way the corresponding holiday is celebrated here in Australia. In Australia, our national day is just a day off work, a good day to have a picnic with the family in the park. But in China, it's something a lot of ordinary people are really looking forward to. There were Chinese flags in most places, even in the markets, in Zhuhai and Wuhan. But not as many in Hong Kong I thought.
My YaYa (from Wuhan) is looking forward to their national day. She is teaching extra classes on the weekend to make up for the days the students will miss when her students are on holiday.
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Yes, mid-Autumn is a big thing in China (2nd only after new year). This year is especially important and my beloved gets a day off for national day. Apparently she is wearing special clothes for the day, and promised to send me photos :angel:!
It was great to be in Hong Kong for mid-Autumn as they had a fireworks display in the harbour.
You can buy elaborate tins of mooncakes for the important people in your life. My girl is getting some from her boss.
We don't really celebrate our national day in England, and don't get a day off which is crazy and sad. So I will celebrate China day instead!
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Well, it turns out one of Lings friends, friends cousin is a nurse training in Ireland would you believe it, small world eh?!
They have decided i should meet up with her so I am doing that this Saturday to celebrate the lunar festival with her and her friends, how cool is that :D
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Great news Ronan, now be a good boy, you know what ever you do will be back to Ling by tonight, tomorrow morning at the latest, be polite, don'y drink to many beers ( you can have more after you get home ) and don't stain your shirt, but other then that, have a great time :icon_cheesygrin:
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Haha, I am fully aware if i make a show of myself that it will be reported back before my laowai ass hits this computer chair again :)
I'm just thinking of home cooked dumplings in Ireland nyom nyom! She's quite pretty apparently and her friend tells me I better behave myself haha!!, so i guess the drink is out unfortunately :icon_twisted: Oh, nurse..i have a temperature and a throbbing....
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:icon_cheesygrin: ROFLMFAO :icon_cheesygrin:
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ROFLMAO hahahahahhaa...RONAN !!!!!...hahhaha:icon_cheesygrin::icon_cheesygrin:
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DId Irish get into Willy's stash?
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The Stories of the Chinese Mid Autumn Festival
I. The Lady - Chang Er
The time of this story is around 2170 B.C. The earth once had ten suns circling over it, each took its turn to illuminate to the earth. But one day all ten suns appeared together, scorching the earth with their heat. The earth was saved by a strong and tyrannical archer Hou Yi. He succeeded in shooting down nine of the suns. One day, Hou Yi stole the elixir of life from a goddess. However his beautiful wife Chang Er drank the elixir of life in order to save the people from her husband's tyrannical rule. After drinking it, she found herself floating and flew to the moon. Hou Yi loved his divinely beautiful wife so much, he didn't shoot down the moon.
Note: Chang'e 1 Lunar orbiter was launched to the moon on October 24, 2007. The Chang'e moon satellite, named after Chang Er, will take 3-D images of the moon surface for yearlong. This is the groundwork for the next Lunar Lander (Chang'e 2) project in 2012 , Lunar Sample Return (Chang'e 3) in 2017 and Chinese astronaut on the moon project.
II. The Man - Wu Kang
Wu Kang was a shiftless fellow who changed apprenticeships all the time. One day he decided that he wanted to be an immortal. Wu Kang then went to live in the mountains where he importuned an immortal to teach him. First the immortal taught him about the herbs used to cure sickness, but after three days his characteristic restlessness returned and he asked the immortal to teach him something else. So the immortal to teach him chess, but after a short while Wu Kang's enthusiasm again waned. Then Wu Kang was given the books of immortality to study. Of course, Wu Kang became bored within a few days, and asked if they could travel to some new and exciting place. Angered with Wu Kang's impatience, the master banished Wu Kang to the Moon Palace telling him that he must cut down a huge cassia tree before he could return to earth. Though Wu Kang chopped day and night, the magical tree restored itself with each blow, and thus he is up there chopping still.
III. The Hare - Jade Rabbit
In this legend, three fairy sages transformed themselves into pitiful old men and begged for something to eat from a fox, a monkey and a rabbit. The fox and the monkey both had food to give to the old men, but the rabbit, empty-handed, offered his own flesh instead, jumping into a blazing fire to cook himself. The sages were so touched by the rabbit's sacrifice that they let him live in the Moon Palace where he became the "Jade Rabbit."
IV. The Cake - Moon Cake
During the Yuan dynasty (A.D.1280-1368) China was ruled by the Mongolian people. Leaders from the preceding Sung dynasty (A.D.960-1280) were unhappy at submitting to foreign rule, and set how to coordinate the rebellion without it being discovered. The leaders of the rebellion, knowing that the Moon Festival was drawing near, ordered the making of special cakes. Backed into each moon cake was a message with the outline of the attack. On the night of the Moon Festival, the rebels successfully attacked and overthrew the government. What followed was the establishment of the Ming dynasty (A.D. 1368-1644). Today, moon cakes are eaten to commemorate this legend.
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I am sad because this year I have to eat my mooncake by myself :s. But my lady has sent me new pictures of her and they are sensational. I am the luckiest man alive :icon_cheesygrin:.
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[attachment=803][attachment=800][attachment=801][attachment=802]Observations on Autumn Moon Festival Week ...
1) Most locals here in Kaiping, Southern China received coupons from their employers to redeem Moon Cakes from the hotels or bakeries. My fiancee's boss handed out 100 containers of Moon Cakes to his employees & clients. With so many Moon Cakes received, if you don't eat them right away, tiny microscopic worms will grow within/ pass the expiry date. My sister in Toronto mentioned that many bakeries started 1/2 price sales on Oct 3rd.
2) The most prized Moon Cakes comes in a box of 'Eight' with individual containers. These are the ones placed during the 'offerings to the heavens'. To make a good impression to your lady's family, buy these ... though they're the most expensive @ 388 RMB.
3) The 'Offerings' include the box of 8 Moon Cakes [ symboling seven stars accompanying the moon ], fruits, a piece of roasted pork, incense sticks & paper money.
4) You can tell a good Moon Cake by how the outside pastry shells attaches itself to the inner paste. If it's too flaky, it's poorly made or old. It has to look picture perfect ... much like a magazine photo advertisement.
5) Most Kaiping residents celebrate the night by having an outdoor BBQ. Instead of the Western large BBQ where one person cooks, individuals cook their own meat ( much like roasting single marshmallows ) ... but they share with others.
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Hey King Chong no fair squatting with a stool for support.......lol
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Hey King Chong no fair squatting with a stool for support.......lol
HAH ... During my three trips here [ 6 months ], I haven't had to use a squat toilet ... YET !!! ........... or ............. I hold it in pretty good till I get back to the hotel ..... :icon_cool: :s
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Chong , that looks like one of the Boxes ... I received from Qing's Parent's . They took the one in the middle ( the Moon ) out of the Box and let me take the rest through Customs . It was the biggest and it was made with Egg , while the other's were not . I think they have something against other Countries Festivals . Wont let it into the Country , just like Soccer . They couldn't care less here in America about somebody else's Holiday's . That's how they show it ... so this is how I feel . Ego at it's best .
Chong , I had to use it twice on my last Trip and getting good at it . I shocked myself ... really .
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I used a squat toilet a couple times and it was no problem. Doesn't bother me.