Hi! Dear friend,
It`s already september now, and meaningful Mid-Autumn day, as the reunion of the family, is coming in several weeks, I`d like to tell you the origin of this holliday. "Zhong Qiu Jie", which is also known as the Mid-Autumn Festival, is celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar. It is a time for family members and loved ones to congregate and enjoy the full moon - an auspicious symbol of abundance, harmony and luck. Adults will usually indulge in fragrant mooncakes of many varieties with a good cup of piping hot Chinese tea, while the little ones run around with their brightly-lit lanterns. "Zhong Qiu Jie" probably began as a harvest festival. The festival was later given a mythological flavor with legends of Chang-E, the beautiful lady in the moon. According to Chinese mythology, the earth once had 10 suns circling over it. One day, all 10 suns appeared together, scorching the earth with their heat. The earth was saved when a strong archer, Hou Yi, succeeded in shooting down 9 of the suns. Yi stole the elixir of life to save the people from his tyrannical rule, but his wife, Chang-E drank it. Thus started the legend of the lady in the moon to whom young Chinese girls would pray at the Mid-Autumn Festival. In the 14th century, the eating of mooncakes at "Zhong Qiu Jie" was given a new significance. The story goes that when Zhu Yuan Zhang was plotting to overthrow the Yuan Dynasty started by the Mongolians, the rebels hid their messages in the Mid-Autumn mooncakes. Zhong Qiu Jie is hence also a commemoration of the overthrow of the Mongolians by the Han people. During the Yuan Dynasty (A.D.1206-1368) China was ruled by the Mongolian people. Leaders from the preceding Sung Dynasty(A.D.960-1279) were unhappy at submitting to foreign rule, and set how to coordinate the rebellion without it being discovered. The leaders of the rebellion, knowing that the Moon Festival was drawing near, ordered the making of special cakes. Packed into each mooncake was a message with the outline of the attack. On the night of the Moon Festival, the rebels successfully attacked and overthrew the government. What followed was the establishment of the Ming Dynasty (A.D. 1368-1644). Today, moon cakes are eaten to commemorate this event. Mid-Autumn Day is a traditional festival in China. Almost everyone likes to eat mooncakes on that day. Most families have a dinner together to celebrate the festival. A saying goes, "The moon in your hometown is almost always the brightest and roundest". Many people who live far away from homes want to go back to have a family reunion. How happy it is to enjoy the moon cakes while watching the full moon with your family members. All the best, Greg Yang **************************************************** Greg Yang Project Coordinator Transpac Technology Inc. Rm. 15F-D2 Sieco International, Road 1 Phoenix City Weiyang District, Xian City, Shaanxi Province P.R. China. Zip:710016 Tel:+86-29-86139310 Fax:+86-29-86139310 E-mail: [email protected] MSN: [email protected] Http://www.transpac.com.cn **************************************************** IMPORTANT NOTE: This e-mail and any attachment are confidential and may contain trade secrets and may also be legally privileged or otherwise protected from disclosure. If you have received it in error, you are herewith informed about its status. Please notify us immediately by reply e-mail and then delete this e-mail and any attachment from your system. You are prohibited from making use of or copying this e-mail or any attachment or disclosing the contents to any other person. < Disclaimer in Chinese below, characters may not be displayed correctly. > 重要提示：此邮件及附件具保密性质，包含商业秘密、受法律保护不得泄露。如果您意外收到此邮件，特此提醒您此邮件的机密性，请立即通知我们并从您的系统中删除此邮件及附件。如果您不是此邮件应当的收件人，请注意不可对此邮件及其附件进行复制或向他人透露其内容。
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