There is also a great overview of the Houyi and Chang stories surrounding the Moon Festival over at Wikipedia. Or head here for a look at the “The biggest mooncake in China.”

Oh, and don’t forget to send friends, family and business associates some Yue Bing (moon cakes), as is the custom here. The chocolate moon cakes below are from Häagen-Dazs (what, you didn’t know China had  Häagen-Dazs?!?). The item on the right is a mold used to make the cakes (which we have turned into a decor item by adding a stand).

This content comes from The specialists guide to Chinese antiques. located at http://www.antique-chinese-furniture.com/blog/ For more articles please visit The specialists guide to Chinese antiques. - A unique insiders peek at the world of Chinese antiques & reproductions, Asian culture, exotic decor and oriental-inspired design from the far east. Everything you ever wanted to know!

Related posts:

1. Mid-Autumn festival and finally holiday for the Chinese.
2. Chinese New Year & Spring Festival 2008
3. Beijing Field trip: Outdoor Wholesale Chinese Antique Market Tour

“Springfestival” or “Chinese Newyear” is nowadays well known in the West as well, though only experiencing it yourself will show you how important it is for the Chinese. The impact is huge, surely with the role China is playing in world trade nowadays. During 3 to 4 weeks 80% of the country is on holiday, so the buyers in the West prepare/plan ahead!

A definition :

Chinese New Year or Spring Festival (simplified Chinese: 春节; pinyin: Chūnjié), or the Lunar New Year (simplified Chinese: 农历新年; pinyin: Nónglì xīnnián), is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays and an important holiday in East Asia (and celebrated largely by overseas Chinese). The festival traditionally begins on the first day of the first lunar month in the Chinese calendar and ends on the 15th; this day is called the Lantern festival (simplified Chinese: 元宵节; pinyin: yuánxiāojié).Chinese New Year’s Eve is known as Chúxī (除夕). Chu literally means “change” and xi means “Eve”.Lunar calendar :The lunisolar Chinese calendar determines Chinese New Year dates : starts on the first day of the new year containing a new moon, ends on the Lantern Festival fourteen days later. (each lunation is about 29.53 days).
In the Gregorian calendar, Chinese New Year falls on different dates each year, a date between January 21 and February 20.What happens :The period around Chinese New Year is also the time of the largest human migration, when migrant workers in China, as well as overseas Chinese around the world travel home to have reunion dinners with their families on Chinese New Year’s eve. More interurban trips are taken in mainland China in this 40-day period than the total population of China.No need to say how long the lines are to buy a ticket for public transport … IF you even manage to buy one.What else happens :

• Very important is that Chinese should SPEND money during this period! Everyone is supposed to buy a whole new set of clothes. Often they buy new furniture or household appliances. It is also a time of year that shops have sales, just like the winter sales period in the West. A interesting article and some statistic of the impact on the economy, you can read here : http://china.org.cn/english/2006/Jan/156662.htm
• The biggest event of any Chinese New Year’s Eve is the dinner every family will have. A dish consisting of fish will appear on the. (leaving some for the next day will bring abundancy of food for the new year).
  In northern China, it is also customary to have dumplings for this dinner. Dumplings symbolize wealth because their shape is like a Chinese gold nugget.
  Mandarin oranges are the most popular and most abundant fruit during Chinese New Year.
  Fireworks and firecrackers are lighted as to evict bad spirits from the premises.
• There are rituals of what has to happen each day of the first two weeks of the new year. For example: the first day of Chinese New Year is a time when families visit the oldest and most senior members of their extended family, usually their parents, grandparents or great-grandparents.
• On the days before the New Year celebration Chinese families give their home a thorough cleaning. It is believed the cleaning sweeps away the bad luck of the preceding year and makes their homes ready for good luck. Brooms and dust pans are put away on the first day so that luck cannot be swept away. Some people give their homes, doors and window-panes a new coat of red paint.
  People also give red packets containing cash (Ya Sui Qian, which was evolved, literally: the money used to suppress evil spirit) to junior members of the family, mostly children.

Items and symbols :

• Red Lanterns
  These lanterns differ from those of Mid Autumn Festival in general. They will be red in color and tend to be oval in shape. These are the traditional Chinese paper lanterns. Those lanterns, used on the fifteenth day of the Chinese New Year for the Lantern Festival, are bright, colourful, and in many different sizes and shapes.
• Decorations
  They generally convey a New Year greeting. Chinese calligraphy posters show Chinese idioms.
• Couplets
  Eight is considered a lucky number in Chinese tradition, so Chinese couplets usually consists of two lines of four characters each, often written from top to bottom to add formality.

• Red Chinese knots

  Are a decorative handicraft arts that began as a form of Chinese folk art in the Tang and Song Dynasty (960-1279 AD) in China.

• Yuanbao ingots
  The gold yuanbao symbolizes money and/or wealth. Yuanbao shaped ingots were the standard medium of exchange in ancient China.
• Papercutting
  Chinese paper cutting is a unique artform and has existed for thousands of years with a long history featuring both national and regional themes.
  In the rural countryside in mainland China, papercutting is a traditionally female activity. In the past, every girl was expected to master it and brides were often judged by their skill. Professional papercutting artists are, on the other hand, usually male and have guaranteed incomes and work together in workshops.

Greetings (the 2 most common)The Chinese New Year is often accompanied by loud, enthusiastic greetings, often referred to as 吉祥話 (Jíxiánghùa), or loosely translated as auspicious words or phrases.

• “Happy New Year”
  simplified Chinese: 新年快乐; pinyin: Xīnnián kuàilè;
  or : : 过年好; traditional Chinese: 過年好; pinyin: Guo Nian Hao
• “Congratulations and be prosperous”
  Kung Hei Fat Choi ( Hong Kong )
  simplified Chinese: 恭喜发财; traditional Chinese: 恭喜發財; pinyin: Gōngxǐ fācái
  The saying is now commonly heard in English speaking communities for greetings during Chinese New Year in parts of the.

And to end this article with, a few, sometimes funny, examples of Chinese Superstitions during the New Year period:• Opening windows and/or doors is considered to bring in the good luck of the new year.• Switching on the lights for the night is considered good luck to ’scare away’ ghosts and spirits of misfortune that may compromise the luck and fortune of the new year.• Sweets are eaten to ensure the consumer a “sweet” year.• It is important to have the house completely clean from top to bottom before New Year’s Day for good luck in the coming year. • Some believe that what happens on the first day of the new year reflects the rest of the year to come. Asians will often gamble at the beginning of the year, hoping to get luck and prosperity.• Wearing a new pair of slippers that is bought before the new year, because it means to step on the people who gossip about you.• The night before the new year, bathe yourself in pomelo leaves and some say that you will be healthy for the rest of the new year.[edit] Bad luck• Washing your hair is also considered to be washing away one’s own luck (although modern hygienic concerns take precedence over this tradition)• Sweeping the floor is usually forbidden on the first day, as it will sweep away the good fortune and luck for the new year.• Avoid clothes in black and white, as black is a symbol of bad luck, and white is a traditional funeral color.

This content comes from The specialists guide to Chinese antiques. located at http://www.antique-chinese-furniture.com/blog/ For more articles please visit The specialists guide to Chinese antiques. - A unique insiders peek at the world of Chinese antiques & reproductions, Asian culture, exotic decor and oriental-inspired design from the far east. Everything you ever wanted to know!

Related posts:

1. Mid-Autumn festival and finally holiday for the Chinese.
2. Chinese Lantern Festival (Mid-Autumn Festival) Arrives!
3. Whoops! TV show assistant smashes 2,500-year-old Chinese bronze mirror

Consequence is one week of holiday, that is one week of possible delays. Foreigners doing business with China often forget this, because in the Western world does not celebrate it at all. It is the same as when the West is celebrating Christmas, the Asian continue daily hard work.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the two most important holidays in the Chinese calendar (the other being the Chinese Lunar New Year), and is a legal holiday in several countries.

Decoration and antique:
To make mooncakes molds are used. Some of those molds of more than 100 years old sometimes, can become a collector’s item or even a decorative piece in an interior.

You can find some in the calatog : http://www.antique-chinese-furniture.com/oscommerce/www/product_info.php?products_id=4421

For those who want to know some more about it, read the following :

When? (Gregorian Vs. Lunar calendar)

The Mid-Autumn Festival falls on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month of the Chinese calendar (usually around mid- or late-September in the Gregorian calendar), a date that parallels the Autumn Equinox of the solar calendar.

Origin? (Harvest)

This is the ideal time, when the moon is at its fullest and brightest, to celebrate the abundance of the summer’s harvest. Farmers celebrate the end of the summer harvesting season on this date.

Tradition? (family)

Traditionally, on this day, Chinese family members and friends will gather to admire the bright mid-autumn harvest moon, and eat moon cakes and pomeloes together. Accompanying the celebration, there are additional cultural or regional customs, such as:

• Eating moon cakes outside under the moon

• Putting pomelo rinds on one’s head

• Carrying brightly lit lanterns

• Burning incense in reverence to deities including Chang’e

• Planting Mid-Autumn trees

• Lighting lanterns on towers

• Fire Dragon Dances

Mooncake?

Simplified Chinese: 月饼 Hanyu Pinyin: yuèbĭng Literal meaning: Mooncake <!–[if !vml]–><!–[endif]–>

The traditional food of this festival is the mooncake, of which there are many different varieties. It is a Chinese pastry. Typical mooncakes are round or rectangular pastries, measuring about 10 cm in diameter and 4-5 cm thick. A thick filling usually made from lotus paste is surrounded by a relatively thin (2-3 mm) crust and may contain yolks from salted duck eggs. Mooncakes are rich, heavy, and dense compared with most Western cakes and pastries. They are usually eaten in small wedges accompanied by Chinese tea.

(few Westerns really like it, but get plenty of them as a present from the ever friendly Chinese)

For more information on Chinese History, Holidays, culture etc, why not take a look at the following links to more articles:

This content comes from The specialists guide to Chinese antiques. located at http://www.antique-chinese-furniture.com/blog/ For more articles please visit The specialists guide to Chinese antiques. - A unique insiders peek at the world of Chinese antiques & reproductions, Asian culture, exotic decor and oriental-inspired design from the far east. Everything you ever wanted to know!

Related posts:

1. Chinese Lantern Festival (Mid-Autumn Festival) Arrives!
2. Chinese New Year & Spring Festival 2008
3. Sotheby’s sues Chinese buyers for ‘non-payment’