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The Moon Festival is a holiday in China. It’s an occasion for family reunion. Chinese families like to get together to eat the moon cakes and watch the moon at the Moon Festival night. For the people are out of town, they miss their family or the lover at home and share the same moon at the night of the Moon Festival before the Internet gets popular.

There are some legendary stories for the Moon Festival.

1 The Lady – Chang Er

The date of this story is around 2170 B.C. The earth once had ten suns circling over it, each took its turn to illuminate to the earth. But one day all ten suns appeared together, scorching the earth with their heat. The earth was saved by a strong and tyrannical archer Hou Yi. He succeeded in shooting down nine of the suns. One day, Hou Yi stole the elixir of life from a goddess. However his beautiful wife Chang Er drank the elixir of life in order to save the people from her husband’s tyrannical rule. After drinking it, she found herself floating and flew to the moon. Hou Yi loved his divinely beautiful wife so much, he didn’t shoot down the moon.

2 The Man – Wu Kang

Wu Kang was a shiftless fellow who changed apprenticeships all the time. One day he decided that he wanted to be an immortal. Wu Kang then went to live in the mountains where he importuned an immortal to teach him. First the immortal taught him about the herbs used to cure sickness, but after three days his characteristic restlessness returned and he asked the immortal to teach him something else. So the immortal to teach him chess, but after a short while Wu Kang’s enthusiasm again waned. Then Wu Kang was given the books of immortality to study. Of course, Wu Kang became bored within a few days, and asked if they could travel to some new and exciting place. Angered with Wu Kang’s impatience, the master banished Wu Kang to the Moon Palace telling him that he must cut down a huge cassia tree before he could return to earth. Though Wu Kang chopped day and night, the magical tree restored itself with each blow, and thus he is up there chopping still.

3 The Hare – Jade Rabbit
In this legend, three fairy sages transformed themselves into pitiful old men and begged for something to eat from a fox, a monkey and a rabbit. The fox and the monkey both had food to give to the old men, but the rabbit, empty-handed, offered his own flesh instead, jumping into a blazing fire to cook himself. The sages were so touched by the rabbit’s sacrifice that they let him live in the Moon Palace where he became the ‘Jade Rabbit.’

4 The Cake – Moon Cake

During the Yuan dynasty (A.D.1280-1368) China was ruled by the Mongolian people. Leaders from the preceding Sung dynasty (A.D.960-1280) were unhappy at submitting to foreign rule, and set how to coordinate the rebellion without it being discovered. The leaders of the rebellion, knowing that the Moon Festival was drawing near, ordered the making of special cakes. Backed into each moon cake was a message with the outline of the attack. On the night of the Moon Festival, the rebels successfully attacked and overthrew the government. What followed was the establishment of the Ming dynasty (A.D. 1368-1644). Today, moon cakes are eaten to commemorate this legend.

Starting around 4000 B.C. traditional Chinese painting has developed continuously over a period of more than six thousand years. Its growth has inevitably reflected the changes of time and social conditions. In its early stage of development, Chinese painting was closely related to the other crafts, from pottery to the decorations used on the bronzes, carved jade and lacqerware.

Following the introduction of Buddhism to China from India during the 1st century A.D. and the consequent carving of grottoes and building of temples, the art of painting religious murals gradually gained in prominence.

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In Chinese literature, the Tang period (618-907) is considered the golden age of Chinese poetry. Tang Shi San Bai Shou [300 Tang Poems] is a compilation of poems from this period made around 1763 by Heng-tang-tui-shi [Sun Zhu] of the Qing dynasty.

Sun’s motivation for compiling the collection sprang from his dissatisfaction with the then popular textbook, the Qian Jia Shi [Poems by A Thousand Poets], an earlier collection from the Tang and Sung (960-1279) periods . Sun made his own selection of Tang poems based on their popularity and effectiveness in cultivating character. Because it represented equally well each of the classical poetic forms and because it represented the best works by the most prominent Tang poets, Sun’s collection became a ‘best seller’ soon after its publication. It has been used for centuries since to teach elementary students to read and write, and also in cultivating character. Sun’s collection is still a classic today, its popularity undiminished. Nearly every Chinese household owns a copy of Tang Shi and poems from it are still included in textbooks and to be memorized by students.

A Night Mooring Near Maple Bridge by Zhang Ji

The moon goes down, the crow cry under the frosty sky,
Dimly-lit fishing boats neath maples sadly lie.
Beyond the Gusu walls the Temple of Cold Hill
Rings bells which reach my boat, breaking the midnight still.
Translated by Xu Zhongjie

The Book of Odes is the very first general collection of ancient Chinese poems, and is the source of the Chinese poetry. It is composed of three hundred and five poems, divided into the ‘Feng’ ‘the ‘Ya’ and the ‘Song’.

The ‘Feng’ mainly reflects the local traits and customs, or the life of the broad masses of the people from the lower classes; the ‘Ya’ reflects the life of the nobles and upper circles; and the ‘Song’ comprises poems used when people are sacrificing to ancestors and praying to spiritual beings.

The poems in The Book of Odes were composed from the early Zhou Dynasty to the mid-Spring and Autumn Period, spanning a time of more than 500 years, and even the latest pieces were about 2500 years old. Since The Book of Odes is of the remote past, and fundamental changes have taken place in language and the social environment, the language, content, feelings and the social situation it reflects differ from what they are today. Therefore, it is rather difficult for the readers today to read and understand the pieces in The Book of Odes.

Anyhow, The Book of Odes must be read because it is not only the originator of the Chinese poetry, but also valuable historical records, reflecting the real social situation of the China thousands of years ago. The vast majority of the poems in The Book of Odes came from the ordinary people, while a small number were composed by princes, marquises and the nobles. The exact author of each poem can’t be traced, and only the vivid figure and contents in the poems, and the refined and precise language reveal for us a colourful historical scene of the ancient China.

Hunan, or Xiang, is very famous for embroidery, together with Su (Suzhou), Yue (Guangdong) and Shu (Sichuan) are the four famous embroideries in China.

The dicovery of the Warring States Period (475-221 BC) tomb in Changsha, Hunan Province, 1958, proofs the age of this art. The dragon and phoenix design on closely woven silk from that tomb, shows a very high level of craftsmanship.

Xiang embroidery is special in its elegant design, exquisite workmanship, pleasant colour, and lifelike qualities, a piece of it is usually sewn in one hundred colours of thread and with seventy different stitches.

The early Hunan embroidery had the design and pattern only on one side, while the reverse side had irregular stitches and threads, later the technique of double-sided embroidery evolved, that is to say, both sides of a work would display the same design in the same colour. From the 1950s, people developed a new technique, which can make the two sides have same design but in different colours. In 1980, this technique was much improved, double-sided with different designs and colours.

Chinese cloth shoes are very light, soft and very attractive. They are available in many colours and styles.

As an old Chinese saying goes ‘ A cold starts from below the knee’, padded cloth shoes are one of China’s traditional answers to this problem, as they are made by inserting layers of cotton, or camel’s hair, which are placed between inner and other layers.

In summer, the most popular styles are low-cut slippers, some with straps across the instep. They are cooler than plastic and leather shoes and are available in many clolurs to complement light summer dresses.

In the past, Chinese women made these shoes by hand. At most, a woman could finish one pair per day, which should be a good gift for their lovers.

Hu brushes. Hui inksticks. Xuan paper and Duan inkstones are popularly known as the four treasures of the study in China. They are essential tools for calligraphers and painters.

Brush-making began as early as the 3rd century BC in Shanlian town in Zhejiang Province. In ancient times, the town belonged to the Hu Prefecture, which gave its name to the Hu brush.

Most Hu brushes are made from the hair of the Hu goat, which gives a fine smooth tip.They are classified into four categories according to the type of raw material: Yanghao, Langhao, Zihao and Jianhao.

Shexian, Xiuning and Tunxi counties in Anhui Province were already famous for their inksticks in the late Tang Dynasty. Anhuis inksticks are made of the ashes of burnt green pine from Huangshan Mountain, mixed with a kind of glue. The most decorative ones are moulded in Nanmu wood moulds and then carved by skillful sculptors with scenes of pavilions and pagodas, hills, brooks, plants, birds and beasts. A set of more than 40 pieces might depict all the senic spots of West Lake in Hangzhou.

The most renowned writing and drawing paper is xuanzhi, firstly produced in Jianxian County, Anhui Province at the beginning of the Tang Dynasty. White, soft, durable and non-absorbent, it is made in an 18-step process from the bark of wingceltis and rice straw.

Duan inkstones, firstyl produced in Duanzhou, guangdong Province, were made from stones found at the bottom of a mountain stream. They have a fine, solid texture and glossy sheen, and ink prepared in them does not dry quickly. The inkstone serves as a fine desk ornament.