Moon bathes festival in its glow

Modern twists

Over the years, mooncakes have gradually become a daily staple, Wang said, adding they have gone from a homemade specialty to being produced in factories and by professional chefs.

Modern twists are also being applied. From the patterns on the crust, to the fillings and packaging, every aspect of the mooncake has undergone a creative transformation.

Fast-food company KFC, in collaboration with the Palace Museum in Beijing, has launched a box of mooncakes celebrating paintings by Wang Ximeng from the Song Dynasty.

Belgian chocolate maker Godiva is combining Western and traditional flavors, producing a mooncake filled with osmanthus, red bean paste and milk chocolate and another with a green tea, kumquat and white chocolate filling.

Snack brand Wei Back has launched a 500-gram mooncake that has eight layers of fillings.

Crab meat, spicy beef, duck, crayfish and even black truffle are nontraditional fillings that have made their way into mooncakes.

Apart from mooncakes, there is a tradition of eating fresh seasonal fruit and vegetables during the festival. In Zhucheng, Shandong province, people eat taro, sweet potato, peanuts and carrot at the start of the holiday.

Xiao believes the festival needs to keep its traditions while coming up with new ideas to interest younger people and maintain its relevancy to contemporary society. "Mid-Autumn Festival can represent an ideal life for Chinese people," Xiao said.