Oh, Mooncakes!

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Egg yolk Lotus PasteRed bean paste

Moon cake is a Chinese bakery product traditionally eaten during the Mid-Autumn Festival / Zhongqiu Festival.

Moon cakes have different stuffing. Most of them are sweet, but some can have grounded pork inside.

What is a moon cake?

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More about moon cakes.Typical moon cakes are round or rectangular pastries, measuring about 10cm in diameter and 45cm thick. A rich thick filling usually made from red bean or lotus seed paste is surrounded by a relatively thin (23mm) crust and may contain yolks from salted duck eggs.

Moon cakes are usually eaten in small wedges accompanied by Chinese tea.Why do we eat moon cakes?There is an old beautiful Chinese legend behind moon cakes. It is about the origin of Mid-autumn Festival.

Here is the story.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biA_ZYWncu4Quiz:Click on the star when you hear the right Chinese words for the following two terms.

moon cake

(Mid-autumn Festival) Next

Here is another version of the legend.Long long ago, there were 10 suns in the sky. They burnt all the plants on the earth. People were dying.

One day, a hero whose name was Hou Yi used his bow and arrows to shoot down nine of them. All the people on the earth were saved.

One day, the queen of heaven gave Hou Yi a bottle elixir that could make Hou Yi become an immortal, but the elixir was only efficacious for one person. Hou Yi did want to become an immortal, but he wanted to stay with his beautiful wife Chang'e more, so he didn't drink the elixir and asked his wife Chang'e to keep it for him.

Hou Yi was becoming more and more famous after he shot down the nine suns and more and more men wanted Hou Yi to be their master. Most of them were accepted by Hou Yi.

Not every student of Hou Yi had good morality. Feng Meng, one of his students, wanted to seize his elixir. One day, Hou Yi went hunting with his students, but Feng Meng pretended to be ill and stay at home. When making sure Hou Yi had gone he went to Hou Yi's house and tried to force Chang'e to give him the elixir. Chang'e knew she couldn't defeat Feng Meng so she drank the elixir immediately. The elixir made her become an immortal and fly higher and higher. Finally, she stopped on the moon.

From then on, people often pray to Chang'e for fortune and safety. During the Mid-Autumn Festival they offer lots of foods to Chang'e.Which of the statements is correct ? Click on the right answer.Change went to the moon because she is jealous of the immortals life.

B. Hou Yi is the one who is in the moon.

C. Change was forced to eat the elixir so she had to fly higher and higher to the moon. Try again!

The End