Moon cakes, also known as Hu cakes, palace cakes, small cakes, moon cakes, reunion cakes, etc., are offerings to worship the moon god in the ancient Mid-Autumn Festival. Since it was handed down, memos have formed the custom of eating moon cakes in the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Moon cakes have a long history in China. According to historical records, as early as the Yin and Zhou Dynasties, there was a kind of "Taishi cake" in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces to commemorate Taishi Wen Zhong, which was the "ancestor" of moon cakes in China. When Zhang Qian went to the Western Regions in the Han Dynasty, he introduced sesame seeds and walnut kernels, which added auxiliary materials to the production of moon cakes. At this time, a round cake filled with walnut kernels appeared, which was called "Hu cake".
In the Tang Dynasty, there were bakers engaged in production among the people, and pastry shops began to appear in Chang 'an, the capital. It is said that on the night of Mid-Autumn Festival one year, Emperor Taizong and Yang Guifei looked at the bright moon, and their hearts surged, and they casually came up with "moon cakes". Since then, the name of "moon cakes" has gradually spread among the people.
The royal Mid-Autumn Festival in the Northern Song Dynasty likes to eat a kind of "palace cake", which is commonly known as "small cake" and "moon group". Su Dongpo has a poem: "A small cake is like chewing the moon, and there is crisp and pleasant in it." The writers of the Song Dynasty were thorough, and the name of "moon cake" was first mentioned in "Old Things in Wulin", which described what Lin 'an, the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty, saw. In the Ming Dynasty, eating moon cakes in the Mid-Autumn Festival gradually spread among the people. At that time, ingenious bakers printed anti-the Goddess Chang'e flying to the moon fairy tales on mooncakes as instrumental art drawings, making mooncakes a necessary food for Mid-Autumn Festival.
Eating moon cakes in the Mid-Autumn Festival is said to have started in the Yuan Dynasty. At that time, Zhu Yuanzhang led the Han people to resist the tyranny of the Yuan Dynasty, and agreed to revolt on August 15th, and put notes in the moon cakes to convey the news. The custom of eating moon cakes on Mid-Autumn Festival spread among the people. The English spelling is: mooncake.
Later, Zhu Yuanzhang finally overthrew the Yuan Dynasty and became the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty. Although the Qing people later entered China, people still celebrated this festival symbolizing the overthrow of alien rule.
According to legend, in ancient China, emperors had a ritual system of offering sacrifices to the sun in spring and the moon in autumn. In the folk, every Mid-Autumn Festival in August, there are also customs about Yue Bai or offering sacrifices to the moon. The famous proverb "The moon is full on August 15th, and the moon cakes in Mid-Autumn Festival are sweet and fragrant" tells the custom of urban and rural people eating moon cakes on Mid-Autumn Festival night. At first, mooncakes were used as sacrifices to the moon god. Later, people gradually regarded the Mid-Autumn Festival as a symbol of family reunion, and gradually mooncakes became holiday gifts.
Moon cakes, originally originated from the Tang Dynasty army Zhujie food. During Tang Gaozu's reign, General Li Jing conquered the Huns and returned home in triumph on August 15th.
At that time, Turpan people who were doing business presented cakes to the emperor of the Tang Dynasty. Gao Zu Li Yuan took the gorgeous cake box, took out the round cakes, smiled at the bright moon in the sky and said, "We should invite toads with Hu cakes." After that, share the cake with the ministers.
The word "moon cake" has been used in Wu Zimu's book "Dream of Liang Lu" in the Southern Song Dynasty, but the description of tasting the moon and eating moon cakes in the Mid-Autumn Festival was recorded in the West Lake Touring Society in the Ming Dynasty: "August 15th is called the Mid-Autumn Festival, and the people take the meaning of reunion with moon cakes". By the Qing Dynasty, there were more records about moon cakes, and the production became more and more elaborate.
With the development of moon cakes today, there are more varieties and different flavors. Among them, Beijing-style, Soviet-style, Guangdong-style and Chaozhou-style moon cakes are widely enjoyed by people all over China.