Today, moon cakes do not vary much in appearance, but they do have distinctly different flavors: there are vegetarian ones from Beijing and Tianjin with oil and a vegetarian filling; Cantonese ones, made with less oil but more sugar; Jiangsu-style cakes that contain generous amounts of both oil and sugar and have a soft and crispy flavor; and the Chaoshan style (a region on the border of Guangdong and Fujian provinces) that features a white, flaky crust and rich, tender filling.

Let’s see how to make the traditional Cantonese moon cake.

Mix flour and custard powder together; add syrup, peanut oil, baking powder, soda water and hot water and stir together until it becomes a dense mixture; then knead it into a dough and leave for one hour.

Combine powdered sticky rice, walnuts, sugared white gourd, shelled melon seeds, olives, sesame seeds, ground almonds, ground pepper, light soy sauce, sesame oil, peanut oil, “ice meat” cubes (fat pork that has been preserved with liquor and sugar), and water for the filling.

For each cake, use 15 g of dough and 47 g of filling.

Shape the dough into cases, add the filling and place in a pre-heated oven (180-230°C) for seven minutes until the moon cakes’ surface is set. Take the cakes out to cool to 50°C, and brush with two layers of egg wash. Then return to the oven and heat again at 180-200°C for another 10 minutes. When they turn golden yellow, the moon cakes are ready to serve.

In old times the Mid-autumn Festival was an event for the family to sit together, enjoying moon cakes under sweet-scented osmanthus trees, watching the beautiful full moon and sharing legends about Chang’e. This tradition is now reprised in Guilin Park, a classical garden in Shanghai, which holds a variety of activities in celebration of this holiday.

Guilin Park boasts over 1,000 osmanthus trees and serves as an ideal venue for people to enjoy the scent of osmanthus flowers. During the celebration in the park, visitors are invited to participate in various Mid-autumn Festival activities such as riddle guessing games, arts exhibitions, handicraft competitions and performances of both classical and modern Chinese dramas. The celebration in Guilin Park combines tradition and modern life, as well as indigenous and international features.