(Ecns.cn)！The Mid-Autumn Day has long been believed to be one of China's oldest and most popular festivals. It is on this day when families revive traditions by reuniting to celebrate with a Thanksgiving-style feast, eating moon cakes, and watching the full moon in the evening. But with people's modern lifestyles, along with the penetration of quite a few Western holidays including Christmas, Chinese people's attitudes have begun to undergo a subtle change toward the traditional festival.
This coming Mid-Autumn Day falls on September 12, next Monday, and Chinese are to enjoy a three-day vacation for the fourth year since it became an official holiday. Though the moon cake market seems to be taking off as many foreign manufacturers like Haagen-Dazs have stepped in, 62% of respondents in a recent survey conducted in Shanghai last week claimed to be unaware of Mid-Autumn Day traditions while 39% insisted the day "doesn't feel like a festival anymore," according to the influential Xinmin.cn.
Still popular?
Despite the shocking lack of common knowledge on traditional rituals and related activities, 10% of those polled voted Mid-Autumn Day as their favorite holiday, which contributed to its lift to the second most popular holiday in the country after the Spring Festival.
During the holiday season, various activities will still be widely held throughout the country. In East China's Zhejiang Province, millions will still plan a trip to experience the magnificent tides on the Qiantang River. In South China's Guangdong Province, a huge lantern show is a big attraction for local residents！thousands of differently shaped lanterns are lit, forming a fantastic contrast with the bright moonlight. And in the north, moon cakes are still received as gifts from employers. Throughout the country, every year, family members take the opportunity to get together.
In a sense, it's still a popular festival, yet not in the traditional way.
The festival, falling annually on the 15th day of the 8th month according to the Chinese lunar calendar, is also known as the Moon Festival since at that time of the year the moon is at its roundest. In addition to moon cake eating, activities like dragon dancing and performing obeisance to the moon are also considered highly important traditions. But, none of these, besides moon cake eating, seems necessary anymore to modern Chinese people.
"The almost religious passion to the moon in Chinese culture has faded in today's rushed life," sighed Zhong Fulan, a folk culture expert at East China Normal University.
