Mooncakes and Memories: The Sweet Heart of Mid-Autumn Festival
Mid-Autumn Festival is a perfect chance for international students to explore Chinese culture, enjoy mooncakes, and experience the full moon festivities firsthand.
Photo by Nguyen Do
As the full moon rose, NYU Shanghai students enjoyed a break for the Mid-Autumn Festival. This traditional Chinese holiday is celebrated on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month, when the moon shines brightest.
The Mid-Autumn Festival originated over 3,000 years ago as a harvest celebration during the Zhou Dynasty. The festival is also associated with the legend of Chang’e, the moon goddess in Chinese mythology. Over time, the Mid-Autumn Festival has evolved into a holiday for family gatherings, moon-gazing, and sharing mooncakes, combining both agricultural and mythological traditions.
Families gather to admire the full moon and light colorful lanterns, making a warm atmosphere. In many regions, offerings and prayers are made to the moon or ancestors, expressing gratitude and wishes for good fortune. The central part of the festival is sharing mooncakes; its round shape symbolizes unity, completeness, and prosperity, just like the full moon.
Photo by Marie Martin
Mooncakes are typically round and filled with a variety of sweet or savory ingredients. They are often eaten as snacks, but some of the fillings are very dense and easy to satisfy after a few bites, like the five nut mixtures. Traditional fillings include lotus seed paste, red bean paste, or salted egg yolk, while modern versions can feature flavors like chocolate, green tea, or ice cream. Lotus seed paste might sound strange to people unfamiliar with mooncakes, but it is the most common and nutritious filling. People often enjoy mooncakes with tea, a combination that perfectly balances flavors.
In Shanghai, bakeries and luxury hotels create elegantly packaged mooncakes, almost like decorations. Here are some of the most popular spots for mooncakes:
Xing Hua Lou 杏花楼 Cantonese restaurant with over 20 flavors of mooncake.
Zhen Lao Da Fang 真老大房 Famous for its traditional Suzhou-style meat mooncakes.
Godly Vegetarian (gōng dé lín 功德林) Buddhist restaurant that offers pure vegetarian Suzhou-style mooncakes.
Strictly Cookies Unique twist by crafting “Mookies,” which are cookies inspired by mooncakes.
Photo by Evie Ulziisaikhan
Instead of venturing out to these popular spots across Shanghai, NYU Shanghai students brought the celebration closer to home with a joyful mooncake tasting event held in the T5 Autumn Room of the residence hall. The gathering featured a variety of mooncakes from different cities. Students also brought different types of tea and other drinks to complement the treats. For some international students, this was the first time trying mooncake and learning about the celebration from the locals.