Happy Mid Autumn Festival to all of our friends here in China!

中秋节快乐！

This ancient lunar festival is celebrated on the 15^th day of the 8^th month in the lunar calendar, which falls on September 22^nd(today!) this year. The festival itself dates back over 3,000 years during the Shang dynasty (1600 – 1046 BC). During this period of China’s history moon worship was a part of the culture, which is why the day chosen for the festival is when the moon will be at its fullest.

The festival is often linked with the classic Chinese tale of Chang’e, the girl in the moon. There are several variations of the story, but a common theme between them is that Chang’e stole the elixir of immortality from her tyrant husband and was then banished to the moon for all eternity with only a rabbit to keep her company. Other variations are listed on Wikipedia.

On Mid-Autumn Festival day open air altars are set up facing the moon to worship the beauty of Chang’e, and most Chinese eat moon cakes to celebrate. Moon cakes are symbols of the full moon, and are therefore intrinsically linked with the mid-autumn festival and Chang’e.

Traditional moon cakes have an imprint on top consisting of the Chinese characters for “longevity” as well as the name of the bakery and perhaps the cake filling. Traditionally the cakes have a savoury filling, but more recently they also come with sweet fillings including ice cream.

As a side note, Li Bai a renowned Chinese poet supposedly died trying to embrace the moon in the waters of the Yangtze River. His poem to the moon and many of it’s translations can be found on this blog.

To help start the autumn semester off right we are offering a special back to school treat for students, their parents, and teachers. To get your free cookies, cake, or coffee please be sure to bring your coupon. Coupons are available through select locations in Chengdu.

We are going to Korea for a mini-vacation until September 16th when we will return to Chengdu restocked and refreshed. We promise to re-open Friday, September 17th at 11:00 to make you all a great cup of coffee and a bite to eat.

While this space might be quiet when we are away, keep an eye on it once we’re back for a special promotion that we’ll be running when we return, and for information about our next exhibition.

Speaking of exhibitions, unfortunately Dawei Zhang’s exhibition has finished. But you can still see some photos of his work on our Flickr and Facebook pages. Dawei is also going to hold another exhibition on September 18th in his studio. For more information about that exhibition please email Kate Griffiths at molerat382@yahoo.co.uk. A big thank you to Dawei Zhang and his wife Kate Griffiths for allowing us to display some truly amazing art!

We also have some new ideas in the works to celebrate the fact that our first birthday is rapidly approaching! We’ll keep all of you informed as the ideas develop.

See you in 10 days!