Stories related to the Mid-Autumn Festival include Zhu Yuanzhang and the Mooncake Uprising, and Wu Gang Zuigui (吴刚折桂).
1, Zhu Yuanzhang and the mooncake uprising
Mid-Autumn Festival eating mooncakes is said to have begun in the Yuan Dynasty. At that time, the majority of people in the Central Plains could not stand the cruel rule of the Yuan Dynasty ruling class, have risen up against the Yuan. Zhu Yuanzhang united various resistance forces to prepare for the uprising. However, the imperial court officials and soldiers searched very closely, and it was very difficult to pass the news.
Soon, Xu Da captured the Yuan capital and the uprising was successful. When the news came, Zhu Yuanzhang was so happy that he quickly sent down an order to let all the generals and soldiers enjoy the coming Mid-Autumn Festival with the people, and rewarded the ministers with "mooncakes", which had been used to secretly deliver messages during the uprising, as a festive confectionary. Since then, the "moon cake" production more and more fine, more varieties, as large as a disk, become a gift of goodies. After the Mid-Autumn Festival, the custom of eating mooncakes has spread among the people.
2, Wu Gang folded laurel
Legend has it that the laurel tree in front of the Moon's Guanghan Palace grows luxuriantly, more than 500 feet high, and there is a man who often cuts it down, but every time he cuts it down, he cuts it down and then immediately closes it up. For thousands of years, it was cut down and closed up in this way, and the laurel tree could never be cut down. It is said that this man who cut down the tree was named Wu Gang, a native of Xihe in the Han Dynasty, who had followed the immortals in their cultivation to the heavenly realm, but he made a mistake, and the immortals relegated him to the Moon Palace, where he was punished by doing this kind of futile and hard work day after day.
Mid-Autumn Festival
Mid-Autumn Festival (Mid-Autumn Festival), also known as "Moon Festival", "Autumn Festival", "Mid-Autumn Festival", "August Festival", "August Meeting", "Moon Chasing Festival", "Moon Festival", "Moon Worshipping Festival", "Daughter's Festival", "Reunion Festival", are traditional cultural festivals popular among many ethnic groups in the country. It is a traditional cultural festival popular among many ethnic groups in the country.
The festival is so named because it falls on the halfway point of the third quarter of the lunar year. The moon is said to be the largest, roundest and brightest on this night. From ancient times to the present, people have the custom of drinking feasts and enjoying the moon on the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, and the daughter-in-law of the bride's family must return to her husband's family on that day, so as to imply a perfect, auspicious meaning. Its origins in ancient times, popularized in the Han Dynasty, stereotyped in the early Tang Dynasty, prevalent in the Song Dynasty later, and the Spring Festival, Qingming Festival, Dragon Boat Festival and known as China's four major traditional festivals.
Mid-Autumn Festival, the temperature has been cool and not yet cold, the sky is high, the moon in the sky, it is the best time to view the moon. Therefore, later the component of the moon festival was gradually replaced by the appreciation of the moon, the color of the festival gradually faded, but this festival continues, and was given a new meaning. In the Northern Song Dynasty, the 15th of August was officially designated as the Mid-Autumn Festival, and in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the Mid-Autumn Festival began to be named after New Year's Day, becoming the second largest traditional festival in China after the Spring Festival.
Refer to Baidu Encyclopedia - Mid-Autumn Festival for more details