Foreigners taste moon cakes during Mid-Autumn Festival
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Various events and parties were held for foreigners during the Mid-Autumn Festival in Beijing, Shanghai and other large cities across China Wednesday, creating a chance for them to have a better understanding of this traditional Chinese festival.
However, some curious foreigners chose to discover for themselves the mystery of China's family reunion day, during the three-day-holiday from Wednesday to Friday.
Discovery trip
Russian Priymak Sergey and Bulgarian Georgi Georgiev Dzhartov, who study Chinese in the Beijing International Studies University (BISU), arrived in China only three weeks ago.
Twenty-two-year old Sergey admitted his knowledge about the Chinese moon culture previously ended with the poem "Thoughts of the quiet night" written by Li Bai in the Tang Dynasty (618-907AD). Also, 23-year old Dzhartov believes the English Wikipedia cannot satisfy his appetite for Chinese culture. Limited understanding of the Mid-Autumn Festival motivated the two students to delve into the significance of the festival, as best they could.
The Mid-Autumn Festival, falling on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month, is an important festival in China, only second to the Spring Festival. On the evening of the first day, families gather to light lanterns, eat moon cakes and appreciate the round moon in the sky, which is a symbol for family reunion.
The sun was shining on Wednesday, the Mid-Autumn Day, after continuous rainy days in Beijing. Sergey chose to visit the Temple of Heaven, the largest surviving sacrificial temple in China, and the Palace Museum, home of ancient emperors for 500 years, searching for signs of the festival. Meanwhile, Dzhartov was invited by a young Chinese couple to spend the day at their home.
In the Temple of Heaven and the Palace Museum, Sergey saw many old Chinese people singing and dancing and many Chinese families leisurely walking in the area. On the way, he took note of over-loaded subways with huge numbers of people taking packages filled with moon cakes, along with other presents, to their relatives.
"Smiling faces are almost everywhere. As a person who respects family ties, I felt happiness today for Chinese families," Sergey said.
Dzhartov spent the Mid-Autumn Festival in a Chinese couple's home in Beijing. He found it amazing and charming that the ancient festival was spent in front of a Mac PC and IKEA furnishings, along with moon cakes and daisy tea.
"My gracious hosts were a couple of young and free thinking Chinese designers, whom I would consider to be at the forefront of the Chinese cultural awakening," Dzhartov said.
The combination of tradition and modernity forms Dzhartov's overall image of modern China.
Tasting the mooncakes
Dzhartov has been greedy and curious about moon cakes for three weeks, but he did not try one until the festival.
"I find Chinese people are more flexible and practical, to some extent, because in Europe, the holidays which are associated with food strictly prohibit eating the festive delicacy before the holiday," said Dzhartov.
The moon cake, with a history of more than 1,000 years, has regional variations on the Chinese mainland and in Taiwan. They vary with sweet or salty fillings and crusts that are chewy, flaky or tender. Moon cakes can normally be divided into the styles of Beijing, Cantonese, Chaoshan, Ningbo, Suzhou, Yunnan and Taiwanese.
Dzhartov' s first red soy bean moon cake had a thick and sticky taste which reminded him of his mother's red hip jam and sesame. So far, he has tasted moon cakes with fillings of resins, apple, egg and coconut. Sergey was lucky enough to eat moon cakes made by his Chinese friend on Mid-Autumn Day. The delicious home-made strawberry and lemon moon cakes were a real eye opener for him.
Ways of greeting
Sergey received his first Mid-Autumn greeting cell phone message on the morning of the festival from his Chinese friends.
In the subway he noticed that almost everyone in the carriage were writing messages, and some read from their phones with smiles on their faces.
During the Mid-Autumn Festival, some Chinese families have a dinner and others make phone calls or send messages, if there is no such possibility for a reunion, for many people live far away from their hometowns as they seek a better education or have well-paid jobs.
One of Sergey's friends showed him an example of a cell phone message; the Chinese language amateur was amazed that Chinese characters could form a picture.
"The message was a picture made of Chinese characters as the symbol of the heart. And inside the heart was written 'I love you and I miss you. Have a nice mid autumn festival'," said Sergey.
"Along with the moon cakes, I understand that watching the moon in awe and sending greetings to dear ones is probably the core theme of the festival," said Dzhartov.
After having a nice festival dinner at home, Dzhartov's Chinese friends were waiting for the moon to come out and later called their parents in the moonlight.
"Chinese people respect the traditions and culture of the country. They are proud of China and like their homes," said Sergey. "I hope to spend all the next holidays and festivals with my Chinese friends, as it will help me to know and learn more about Chinese culture."
"My first Mid-Autumn Festival revealed the limited understanding foreigners have of China and its culture. My three-week Beijing experience has taught me that spending even a single day in China one can find out more about the country than watching a dozen Jackie Chan movies," Dzhartov said.
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