Across China tomorrow, Oct. 3, families will gather to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival (Zhong qiu jie, 中秋节). This traditional festival is the Chinese equivalent of Thanksgiving, with the most important celebration being a large family meal. As with the Dragon Boat Festival, there are a few different stories associated with the festival, but they all involve moon cakes (yue bing, 月饼).
Moon cakes are rich, sweet pastries that can contain any number of fillings, from egg to sweet fruit-flavored custards to meat. They are dense, verging on leaden, and not that appetizing to this Western palate. But in the days before the festival, moon cakes appear everywhere. In my neighborhood, bakeries that normally produce fluffy little muffins convert to moon cake production. Closed storefronts reopen as moon cake vendors. Western-style bakeries and ice cream shops — and even Starbucks — produce their own nontraditional moon cakes. And everyone gets at least one box as a gift.
A moon cake shop near my university
This is the latest in a series of photo posts spotlighting places I’ve been on my travels, in China and beyond. You can view more of my photos at Picasa and Flickr.
Related posts:
Add to your RSS Reader
Subscribe by e-mail
Follow me on Twitter
Flickr photostream