Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!

Today is the first day of the Mid-Autumn Festival here in China and as a result, I have three days off from classes (five, if you include Saturday and Sunday too). Hopefully during my time off, I'll be able to blog more and work on some more photos for all of you. As for now, here's a little info on the Mid-Autumn Festival.

The Mid-Autumn Festival occurs annually on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month. Traditionally, people gather with their families during this festival to gaze at the full moon and eat mooncakes. There are many different types of mooncakes depending on where you are living or where your family is from. The most traditional form has a thin skin around a sweet, dense filling usually of lotus or red bean paste. Sometimes there will also be one or two salted egg yolks in the middle. Personally, I like the salted egg yolk with the sweet filling but some people find it strange.

Traditional mooncake

Traditional mooncake with lotus bean paste & salted egg yokes

In Shanghai though, they eat savory mooncakes that have a thin, filo-dough-like outside and savory meat (pork?) filling on the inside. When my parents & I were in Shanghai, we were lucky enough to be purchase some from some famed mooncake-perveyor on Nanjing Lu. Needless to say, they were delicious.

Box of Shanghainese mooncakes

 

Shanghainese mooncake with savory meat filling

For more information about the mid-Autumn Festival: http://www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/festivals/mid-autumn-festival.htm

More information on mooncakes: http://www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/culture/mooncake.htm