Zhōng Qiū Jíe Kuài le!

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival! This is a particularly long post so get on your jammies and snuggle up with a good cup of tea and a moon-cake while I tell you the legend behind the holiday...(as told to me by my language teacher, so bear with me as I'm literally translating his Chinglish version into English.)

One year in ancient times, there appeared in the sky ten suns which were so scorching that smoke kept rising from the earth and all the seas dried up making living circumstances unbearable.

A hero named Hou Yi who was very worried by this, ascended to the top of the Kunlun mountain. (Enter stage right: Hou Yi dramatically ripping open shirt to reveal superman S) Directing his superhuman strength to the full extent, he drew his extraordinary bow and shot down the nine superfluous suns one after another.

Hou Yi was respected and loved by the people for the unparalleled meritorious service he rendered. Lots of people came to him to lean the martial arts. All this while, Peng Meng, a cunning and treachrous disciple of Hou Yi, (who entertained dark schemes in his head) lurked in the shadows. (Peng Meng stealthily enter stage left; suspenseful music increases)

Before long, Hou Yi took a wife -- a beautiful and kindhearted woman named Chang E. (Enter Chang E. with gown covered with as many sequins and spangles and she needs more glittery make up, damn it. I thought I told you -- go heavy on the glitter! Where are the ruby red slippers?) So now, besides hunting and martial arts, Hou Yi was with his wife much of the day long. People all admired the affectionate couple of a perfect match. (For pete's sake, this is China not Bollywood! You can kiss the girl on the mouth you know!)

One day, on his way to the Kunlun Mountain to call on friends and seek for virtue, he ran upon the empress of heaven, Wang Mu who was passing by. (Enter Wang Mu stage left, gracefully...ok...stop. What is this? People. Where are my sparkles? This dress is only mostly covered with sequins not entirely covered with sequins. Fix it! Somebody's going to loose their head tonight...) So he asked of Wang Mu a bottle of elixir, by taking which, it was said that one would ascend immediately to heaven and become a celestial being (cue heavenly music).

Hou Yi however, hated to part with his wife. So he gave the elixir to Chang E to treasure for the time being. Chang E was hiding the bottle in the treasure box of her dressing table when (cue suspenseful music) unexpectedly, it was seen by Peng Meng (cue Peng Meng's sinister laugh -- Baw Ha Haaaw).

Three days later, when Hou Yi led his disciples out hunting, Peng Meng who harboured dark intentions and resentment toward his master, remained under the false pretense of illness. Soon after Hou Yi left with his other disciples, Peng Meng, sword in hand, rushed into the inner chamber and forced Chang E to hand over the elixir. (suspenseful music reaches climax and struggle to ensue. Chang E blood curdling scream...what was that? For goodness sakes, woman, you are Chinese. I know you can scream better than that.)

Aware that she was unable to defeat Peng Meng, Chang E made a prompt decision at that critical moment. She opened her treasure box, took the elixir and swallowed it in one gulp. (silence music) (cue heavenly music)

As soon as Chang E swallowed the elixir her body floated off the ground, out of the window and toward heaven. All the while she worried about her husband, so she was able to descend and be turned into a celestial being on the moon which was the nearest she could be to the earth from among the stars.

When Hou Yi returned home at dark, the maidservants told him tearfully what had happened (cue sad music and fake, dramatic sobbing complete with tears). Shocked and angry, Hou Yi took out his sword and went to kill Peng Meng only to find Peng Meng had already fled hours ago. Hou Yi was so distraught that he beat his breast and stamped his feet and kept crying out in bitterness.

Hou Yi, overcome with grief, was looking up into the night sky and calling out to his beloved wife by name when, to his surprise (cue surprised music) he found the moon was especially bright and on it there was (not a man, or a rabbit or a chicken) a swaying shadow that was exactly like his wife!

Hou Yi hurriedly arranged an incense table in the garden that Chang E loved. He put on the table the sweatmeats and fresh fruits that Chang E enjoyed the most and held a memorial service for Chang E who was sentimentally attached to him by the presence of the moon.

The End.

Now funnily enough, moon cakes have nothing to do with any of that. The story goes that during the Yuan Dynasty (AD 1280 - 1368), China was ruled by the Mongolian people. Leaders from the preceding Sung Dynasty (AD 960 - 1280) were unhappy at submitting to the foreign rule. They managed to coordinate a rebellion without being discovered by making special 'Moon Cakes' for the upcoming Moon/Mid-Autumn Festival. They baked special messages with the outline of the proposed attack into each cake so on the night of the Festival, the rebels successfully attacked and overthrew the government. Today, moon cakes are eaten to commemorate this legend.

Every year in Nanning the Guangxi TV station has party to celebrate the moon festival and obviously they try to out do themselves every time. Zhōng Qiū Jíe falls on the Autumnal Eqinox so the moon is perfectly full. Because the full moon is round, it therefore symbolises reunion. All family members try to get together for this holiday and things are done "in the round" for example this party, was held in a circle with the stage being the middle. Which lends itself to perfect 'rave' atmosphere when all the festivities are over!

Chinese love glow sticks and cheap junk -- you would think this is almost a holiday to celebrate the conception of the first dollar store or something.

Our next door neighbours from Vietnam -- also big fans of the moon festival although I'm sure they have their own ideas of how it started.

As do the Japanese...

Oh my gosh there are Indians in Nanning! I tried to get a chance to ask them if they have lentils and will they sell me some but they were constantly surrounded by the girls who forgot their pants (yes they really danced in those hoochy mamma shorts -- God have mercy on us!)

I believe they were acting out the Moon Festival story. If we had a China's Got Talent, they'd win hands down.

I swear I never knew we had this many foreigners in Nanning! And he was rapping in French.

And I don't know if this is exactly true but supposedly, this guy is the original Charlie Brown singing voice, Larry Love? Can anyone back me up on this cause the internet's not helping me out...

And of course High School Musical is alive and well here. Perhaps China is the only country in the world where the average age of a HSM fan is 18 +

Our nex-next door neighbour, the lovely Thai people.

And my lovely friend who actually got to be a host on the tv programme...

Everyone say hi to your friendly PSB officer! He wouldn't miss this for the world.

The after party!

And while we're at it, this is the lovely new bridge out the back of our place that people were setting illegal wishing lanterns off all night, keeping the police very busy.

I'm not even going to bother trying to catch up on National Day as that was already almost a week ago and I have to go back to school in 2 days so we'll just keep going from here and the next festival is the Nanning Food festival with the Folk Festival arriving shortly on its heels so that should keep us busy for a while!

Rachel -- 7th of Oct, 2009