Taiwan residents rush to buy mooncakes ahead of Mid-Autumn Festival

Bakeries in Taiwan are experiencing a surge in customers, with long lines forming as people rush to purchase mooncakes ahead of the traditionally celebrated Mid-Autumn Festival.

In Taiwan, the Mid-Autumn Festival is a cherished tradition with family reunions and festive gatherings, marked by moon-gazing, feasting on mooncakes, peeling pomelos, and savoring family moments.

Mooncakes and pineapple cakes are essential to the festival.

A renowned Taipei bakery is bustling with activity and long lines formed outside. Many customers wait over half an hour to select their favorite Mid-Autumn treats.

"Since I work away from home, I don't get to reunite with my family often. Mooncakes are an important gift. When we gather, it's a moment of completeness, just like the full moon. And the egg yolk puff is round too, symbolizing reunion and completeness," said a local resident.

Traditional flavors like green bean mooncakes and red bean egg yolk puff, with their delicate crusts and fresh fillings, are deeply prized by the local community.

To pander to the needs of surging consumers, the bakery which has been running in Taipei for 50 years, has extended its business hours by an hour during this busy season.

"Long lines stretch from 08:00 to 21:00 in front of our shop every day and sales are booming. This year, we've partnered with a renowned artist to design a special festive gift box. It contains all our products in one package, allowing customers to enjoy all kinds of flavors easily," said the shop's manager.

The Mid-Autumn Festival, celebrated on the 15th day of the eighth month on the Chinese lunar calendar, falls on Sept. 17 this year.

Taiwan residents rush to buy mooncakes ahead of Mid-Autumn Festival

Taiwan residents rush to buy mooncakes ahead of Mid-Autumn Festival

The death toll from a landfill collapse in the central Philippine city of Cebu has risen to eight by Monday morning as search and rescue operations continued for another 28 missing people.

The landfill collapse occurred on Thursday as dozens of sanitation workers were working at the site. The disaster has already caused injuries of 18 people.

Family members of the missing people said the rescue progress is slow, and the hope for the survival of their loved ones is fading.

"For me, maybe I’ve accepted the worst result already because the garbage is poisonous and yesterday, it was raining very hard the whole day. Maybe they’ve been poisoned. For us, alive or dead, I hope we can get their bodies out of the garbage rubble," said Maria Kareen Rubin, a family member of a victim.

Families have set up camps on high ground near the landfill, awaiting news of their relatives. Some people at the site said cries for help could still be heard hours after the landfill collapsed, but these voices gradually faded away.

Bienvenido Ranido, who lost his wife in the disaster, said he can't believe all that happened.

"After they gave my wife oxygen, my kids and I were expecting that she would be saved that night because she was still alive. But the night came and till the next morning, they didn't manage to save her," he said.

Death toll in central Philippine landfill collapse rises to eight