Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations, especially folk activities, have added to festive vibes in many parts of China, while boosting local tourism.
The Mid-Autumn Festival, which falls on the 15th day of the eighth month on the Chinese lunar calendar, is a festival in honor of the moon and harvest, as well as an occasion for family and friend reunions to eat mooncakes and appreciate the moon. The festival will fall on Sept 17 this year, bringing a three-day holiday from Sunday to Tuesday.
A traditional rock-dragging event was held at Shajiang Village in Xiapu County of Ningde City, east China's Fujian Province, to welcome the festival. Teams of villagers dragged rocks on street with cheers of spectators.
The event, with a history of over 400 years, is a intangible cultural heritage in Ningde to remember Qi Jiguang, a Chinese hero who led his soldiers and local people to drag rocks on streets on the Mid-Autumn Festival night in 1562 to scare away Japanese pirates.
The Hukou Waterfall in northwest China's Shaanxi Province, wowing tourists with a spectacular golden scenery, witnessed a Mid-Autumn Festival celebration on Sunday.
A huge mooncake-shaped decoration, with a diameter of seven meters, was put beside the waterfall, where tourists could get mooncakes to eat while enjoying wonderful performance.
People at Houwan Village in Nanchang County of east China's Jiangxi Province made local lotus leaf base mooncakes together. They stuffed the mooncakes with various ingredients, fried them into yellow ones, and eat the mooncakes while holding them on lotus leaf bases.
"Our mooncakes are stuffed with many ingredients, including nuts and preserved citrus. We wrapped them with puff pastry, shape them round and fry them into yellow ones. They taste fragrant, crispy and sweet. The lotus leaf base means harmony and reunion," said Wan Deren, president of the Houwan Village council.
In Jinzhou City of northeast China's Liaoning Province, dazzling lights have lit up the Ancient Pagoda Park at night to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival, where a fair is captivating tourists with Chinese chic. People can also enjoy themselves at a night market near the park.
Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations add to festivity, boost tourism across China
