Cake betting: Originating in Xiamen, it is a unique traditional Mid-Autumn event in southern Fujian for hundreds of years. It is a unique mooncake culture and an inheritance of history. The founder of the cake betting activity is Zheng Chenggong, a native of Nan'an, Quanzhou. Back then, Zheng Chenggong ordered his subordinates to invent this game in order to encourage his homesick soldiers. After hundreds of years of changes, it has become a unique Mid-Autumn Festival culture and is now popular in Fujian.

Expansion:

1. History

Mid-Autumn cake betting originated in Quanzhou Prefecture. Legend has it that it was invented by Zheng Chenggong, a native of Nan'an, Quanzhou. It is a unique cake game in southern Fujian. A Han folk activity with cultural extension. Cake gambling is a popular entertainment activity during the Mid-Autumn Festival. The combination of the results of throwing six dice is used to determine the participants' prizes. The traditional prizes are moon cakes of different sizes. The first prize is 1 top prize, 2 double prizes, 4 red prizes, 8 fourth prizes, 16 double prizes, and 32 first prizes. According to legend, this game can predict a person's luck in the next year.

In southern Fujian, gambling on Mid-Autumn cakes has also become a commercial activity and a popular game [1]. "Fujian Scenery" published by Fujian People's Publishing House in 1985 records: In the Quanzhou area, there is a custom of "winning the number one cake" during the Mid-Autumn Festival. In some urban and rural areas in central and eastern Taiwan, as well as in Kinmen County (under Quanzhou) on the outlying island of Taiwan, the custom of winning the number one prize cake during the Mid-Autumn Festival is still popular. In Kinmen, the Jincheng Town Wucuo Community Development Association celebrates the Mid-Autumn Festival community gala every year with a Bo Zhuangyuan Cake Competition.

2. Cultural origins

The culture of Mid-Autumn cake betting is very popular in southern Fujian. In the past, cake betting during the Mid-Autumn Festival in southern Fujian was usually a traditional cake betting method. For example, the prizes were usually cakes. Betting on pie is purely for fun. And in terms of time, local residents do not play before the first day of August in the lunar calendar. The normal time for pie betting is from the first day of August in the lunar calendar to the 15th day of August in the lunar calendar, which is the Mid-Autumn Festival.

In the beginning, pie betting was a game for literati. Later, it also became popular among guilds and shops in the industrial and commercial circles. In order to avoid the suspicion of "gamble" when throwing dice, some merchants first offer Mid-Autumn cakes to the land of the God of Wealth, and then use "Bu Xin Cup" to bet on the cakes. The largest Mid-Autumn cake is called "Gantou" (ie "Aotou"), which is still "bet". meaning first. This kind of activity existed until the late 1940s and early 1950s.

The rules of Minnan cake gambling originate from the game of "Zhuangyuanchi" (also known as "Zhuangyuanchu"). Zhuangyuanchi probably appeared in the Ming Dynasty and became popular in the Qing Dynasty. This is recorded in Volume 1 of "Qing Jia Lu" by Gu Lu of the Qing Dynasty. There are 63 cakes in a set of Zhuangyuanchiu. The rules of the game are basically the same as those of Zhuangyuanchiu. That is, the two games have the same name, the same quantity, the same dice, and the same betting methods. The difference is that Zhuangyuanchiu plays chips instead of cakes. The Mid-Autumn Betting game plays Zhuangyuanchi. It's cake, not chips. As for the use of dice as tools, it can be traced back to Xuanhe Pai, a card game in the Song Dynasty, in which the points on the six sides of the dice are played. The Mid-Autumn Festival cakes used for gambling can be traced back to the Mid-Autumn Festival customs of the Qing Dynasty court, which were also originated from the Go to the small stack, and you will be rewarded with mooncakes of different sizes according to the level. The method of throwing champion cakes recorded in Taiwanese history books is consistent with the method of gambling in southern Fujian.