Mooncake etiquette?
 

Hi all,

Well, I have been in China for almost 2 weeks so far. There are MANY challenges actually trying to live here compared to just visiting and I know that I will have MANY more questions! I will try to keep them travel related and try to find somewhere more appropriate for non-ff type topics :).

The seasonal question now is about mooncakes. I have received them from several people so far! Some were just left in the staff lounge for everyone, I've had them from colleagues and when I got home to my serviced apartment there were some (along with a mug) in my apartment!

So.... am I supposed to reciprocate? In which cases? If so, how?

Thanks

Dr. PITUK

I don't like the ones with the quail egg in the middle. Don't care for the savory ones either. Actually I haven't had a moon cake that I would want to eat again.

As for reciprocity - I honestly don't think it is necessary.

In a bad year, we had received from over 40 plus individuals. Singles and boxes of the stuff. We ended up giving them away because we couldn't stomach eating them.

Seems that most moon cakes are given, not eaten.
I think that you need some expat website for this sort of question.

As a 'foreigner' you won't be expected to reciprocate. If you do, however, it will be appreciated, so it's a win-win.

I don't like mooncakes, and dread the inevitable boxes, but we don't get that many, to be honest. My students appreciate quite a few, and we manage to 'gift-on' a few. My wife and daughter don't mind them, so they mop up the rest!

However, in general, gift-giving is a very big deal in China, and some form of reciprocity is appreciated. If cash is involved (e.g. if you have kids, they may get cash gifts at Spring Festival), usually exact amounts. I really dislike this, since many kids don't get to see the cash...it's just put in a different envelope and given back! So we tend to give gifts to avoid this sort of merry go round.

What you will find, however, is how very generous your Chinese friends are...and that's pretty wonderful.

tb

PS I think a wonderful aspect of this board is the lack of obsession with FF/hotel threads, and far more about life in China...so fire away at will!

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No. Just eat them or throw away.

Cheers

You are supposed to open them to find instructions from rebels on how to defeat the mongols haven't you heard?

But in all seriousness mooncake are usually just gifts with fancy packaging given by vendors to their customers or given to family members. Nobody cares what they taste like since most end up being re gifted anyway.

Mother has been gifted with a box of 4 'locally' made mooncakes. A niece bought a box of 12 mini-cakes. - assorted fillings. Great with a strong pot of tea.

Mooncake etiquete?
 

The Haagen Daas mooncakes are awesome. There have been noticeably shorter lines this year than in years past at all the places I've seen that sell mooncakes. I think Mr. Xi might have something to do with it.

Thanks all.

The Hagen Dazs version sounds pretty nice, especially in the heat!

Dr. PITUK

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I don't know if you are speaking from some expat point of view, but that's totally not the mooncake culture that I've been living in all my human life.

There are 3 most important holidays in traditional Chinese culture, naming Chinese New Year, Dragonboat Festival, and Mid-Autumn Festival. Mooncakes are what we celebrate with during Mid-Autumn Festival. Plenty of people actually buy boxes of mooncakes just to give and/or share with friends and families. It's also customary for business/company owners to send mooncake giftboxes to customers to share the holiday spirit and show their appreciation. The packaging certainly can be fancy, as gifts always do.

In recent years, there are "modernized" varieties of mooncakes, the Hagen Dazs version being one, to boost the consumption. The traditional mooncakes tend to be bad news for any healthy diet but who would care about calories when enjoying holidays! ;) :D

+1

This is the sound advice for OP. It may not be a bad idea to gift some Pomelo, a fruit that always accompanies Mid-Autumn Festival.

If you happen to be invited to an outing/gathering for this Mid-Autumn Festival, just gladly accept it so you may have the chance to observe one of the Chinese holidays to spend with families.

If one knows the history of mooncakes one would be careful about re-gifting them.

They were used to pass on messages and was credited with overthrowing the Manchurian leading to the Ming dynasty. Today they were known to enclose a collection of pictures of the Great Helmsman.

I enjoy getting through two or three sweet ones and that pretty much sates me for a year. We do end up throwing most of them out but we keep some of the better boxes to store small little odds and ends.

Just one note about mooncake boxes. A hidden benefit of the sheet metal used mooncake box is that it protects the content from rusting. Great for tools kept in an unheated garage.
If you know what one of the main ingredient in the lotus paste is you will know why.

I've never seen one but the word "re-gifting" keeps going through my head.

Do you mean lye? If so, I thought that's only used in the cooking step, so there shouldn't be any of it around in the mooncake itself.

tb