Mid Autumn Festival - By Jacky Cui

It is that time of the year again, and every office in China is filled up with moon cakes - corporate gifts from suppliers and would be suppliers. A traditional Chinese festival ‘Middle Autumn Festival’ falls on the fifteenth day of the eighth month in the Chinese lunar calendar. On this particular day, it is traditional to have these moon cakes. With the rapid increase in commerciality and it is perhaps not a surprise that these have developed into an almost requisite tool to in maintaining and developing relationships with important customers.

Here, perhaps you will ask what a Moon Cake is and what do we do on Mid Autumn festival.

According to tradition, the Moon Cake has a long history that can be traced back to the Tang dynasty when king Liyuan and his warriors were celebrating their victory against Hun and a round cake was sent as gift by the envoy of Bod, a tributary regime located in what is now Tibet. Since the cake is round and the moon will be round again on every August 15^th of Chinese lunar calendar, the cake was then named Moon Cake. Usually, Moon Cakes have a stuffing of different tastes, usually sweet.

With time goes on, the Moon Cake became a symbol of family reunion, because on fifteenth day of the eigth lunar month, the moon will be round again, which means reunion for Chinese people. On this day, family members will try to think of their families no matter how far away, but sharing the same moon. The Moon Cake is a must on this day. Here, I would like to say ‘Middle Autumn Festival’ is perhaps the second most important festival whose importance is only next to the ‘Spring Festival’. Sitting outside in the night with the family, having a drink, enjoying the glorious full moon, and eating Moon Cakes of different tastes is a dream for many Chinese people on this day.

Now, as I mentioned, with the development of the economy, the moon cake has got a new meaning. Since the ‘Middle Autumn Festival’ is coming soon, it is very common for businesses to receive lots of Moon Cakes with luxury packages. Most of them are sent by local Chinese suppliers that have already set up a long-term and friendly relationship with their customer. After a whole year happy cooperation, they like to show their thanks and wishes. But what is most important is it is also a very efficient way of marketing promotion. The cost of one box Moon Cakes that have four to five different tastes and luxury package is around RMB 200, which is not high, but it is a very good and convenient way to say ‘hello and thanks’ to your important clients.It is though a very good example of value added to the core product, the cake itself which, depending on the filling will only take a few yuan to make. There, are though extreme examples, with reports of some packages in the past containing keys for cars and even apartments.

It’s worth noting too, a little bit about the producers of these cakes. As in many industries, these include domestic firms and foreign companies trying to get in on the act. Some Chinese cake manufacturers such as Dao Xiang Cun, Hao Li Lai, Guan Sheng Yuan, are well-known for the production of Moon Cakes and produces. Foreign supplier do not have tradition on their side, but are trying to cash in with innovative products, for example Haagen-Dazs is producing Ice Cream Moon Cakes and Starbucks also has its own Moon Cakes that are sold through coupons bought by companies that will send moon cakes to their employees or corporate clients.

Traditionally, there are five main types of Moon Cakes defined by regions that are Beijing taste, Tianjin taste, Guangzhou taste, Suzhou taste and Chaozhou taste. To attract different clients, Moon Cake producers are now trying to diversify their flavours.  More traditional flavours are red date paste, lotus paste, egg-yolk, nut. In an attempt to differentiate themselves producers are adding “special” tastes, that are becoming more bizarre by the year, with salmon, abalone, and crab being seen this year. There seems to be no limit to the imagination of the producers, but the verdicts of recipients of some of these new luxury falvours range from interesting to disgusting, with the more traditional varieties proving more popular.

If there are lessons in all this, they are gifts remain an important part of cementing business relationships; commercialism and traditional culture can go hand in hand, and the inventiveness of businesses in this industry, as in many others, knows no almost no bounds.

Wishing everyone a happy Mid Autumn festival for Monday 15^th, a public holiday for those of us in China. But- I would stay away form moon cakes containing fish.