Mid-Autumn Festival to eat moon cakes, and the Dragon Boat Festival to eat dumplings, Lantern Festival to eat dumplings, as is the traditional customs of China's folk. Throughout the ages, people have taken mooncakes as a symbol of good luck and reunion. In addition to mooncake offerings, mooncakes are also used as gifts for friends and relatives. Mooncakes have become the symbol of the Mid-Autumn Festival. Every Mid-Autumn Festival, the moon is in the sky, the family reunion, tasting cakes and enjoying the moon, talking about the sky and the earth, and enjoying the happiness of the family. Mooncake, also known as Hu cake, Palace cake, small cakes, moon ball, reunion cake, etc., is the ancient Mid-Autumn Festival offerings to worship the moon god, along the line, the formation of the Mid-Autumn Festival to eat mooncakes custom. Mooncakes have a long history in China. According to historical records, as early as in the Yin, Zhou period, Jiang, Zhejiang, there is a commemorative master Wenzhong's thin side of the heart of the thick "Master Cake", which is China's mooncake "ancestor". Han Dynasty, Zhang Qian's mission to the West, the introduction of sesame seeds, walnuts, for the production of moon cakes added accessories, then appeared in the walnut kernel as the filling of the round cake, called "Hu cake". Tang Dynasty, the folk have been engaged in the production of cake masters, the capital Chang'an also began to appear cake store. It is said that one Mid-Autumn Festival night, Tang Taizong and Yang Guifei enjoy the moon to eat Hu cake, Tang Taizong smacked "Hu cake" name is not good, Yang Guifei looked up at the bright moon, the heart surging, out of the mouth and "moon cake", and from then on "moon cake The name of "mooncake" has been gradually spread in the folklore. Northern Song Royal Mid-Autumn Festival like to eat a "palace cake", folk commonly known as "small cakes", "moon ball". Su Dongpo has a poem: "small cakes such as chewing the moon, there are crispy and Yi." Zhou Mi, a writer in the Song Dynasty, first mentioned the name "mooncake" in his account of Lin'an, the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty, in the Old Story of Wulin. In the Ming Dynasty, mooncakes were gradually popularized among the people during the Mid-Autumn Festival. At that time, the clever baker, the Chang'e moon mythological story as a food art pattern printed on the moon cake, so that the moon cake has become more popular with the people of the Mid-Autumn Festival of the necessary food. The Ming Dynasty Tian Rucheng "West Lake Excursions" said: "August 15 is called the Mid-Autumn Festival, the folk to the moon cake to send each other, take the meaning of reunion." Qing Dynasty, the production process of moon cakes has improved greatly, the variety is also increasing, for the moon moon cakes everywhere. Yuan Jinglan, a poet of the Qing Dynasty, wrote a long poem entitled "Mooncake Poem", which reads, "The light in the kitchen snatches the frost, and the steam kettle flows with liquid. The mooncake is kneaded with fine flour dust and dotted with rouge traces. Relatives feed each other, the festival is not tolerate neglect ...... children sit in the reunion, cups and plates scattered mess," and other lines, from the production of mooncakes, friends and relatives to give each other mooncakes to set up a family feast and enjoy the moon, the narrative is exhaustive. On the Mid-Autumn Festival to eat moon cakes the formation of this custom, history has no precise records. However, many folk legends tell the origin of eating mooncakes at Mid-Autumn Festival. Among the many legends, the most widely circulated is the "mooncake message" one. According to legend, in the early years of the Yuan Dynasty, the brutal rule of the rulers aroused widespread hatred among the people, and uprisings and rebellions were brewing everywhere. In order to maintain their rule and prevent the people from revolting, the rulers stipulated that the people were not allowed to keep iron weapons in their possession, and only ten families were allowed to share a kitchen knife. During the Mid-Autumn Festival, Zhang Shicheng, the leader of the peasant revolt, wrote the time of the mid-autumn revolt on a slip of paper and gave it to every household in a mooncake. When people broke open the mooncakes and saw the note, they picked up kitchen knives and gathered for the uprising. The uprising was the culmination of the resistance against the oppression of the Yuan Dynasty rulers. In order to commemorate this uprising, people eat mooncakes on August 15 every year and it has become a custom. Another legend that Tang Taizong conquered the northern Turkic, August 15 triumphant return to the capital, Chang'an city of jubilation. There is a Tulei people are in Chang'an, he to the Tang Taizong offer round cake to wish success. Taizong was overjoyed, took out the round cake from the ornately decorated cake box and pointed to the bright moon hanging in the sky and laughed: "I should invite the toad with the Hu cake". Subsequently, Emperor Taizong and the hundred officials **** food round cake, since then the custom of eating moon cakes on Mid-Autumn Festival has been formed. In addition, there is a legend, Tang Ming Huang tour of the Moon Palace ate Chang'e do fairy cakes, back to the Palace after the unforgettable flavor, and then ordered people to make and eat on the 15th of August. Mid-Autumn food mooncake records are mostly found in the Ming and Qing dynasties. Ming Tian Rucheng in the "West Tourism Zhiyu" said: "August 15 is called Mid-Autumn, folk to the moon cake legacy, take the meaning of reunion." Because the ancients called the Mid-Autumn Festival for "reunion festival", so the moon cake is also known as "reunion cake". Ming and Qing dynasties, the custom of eating moon cakes in the Mid-Autumn Festival has been quite prevalent, the Qing people Fucha Duncan Chong in the "Yanjing times" said: "Mid-Autumn Festival mooncakes, before the door to the beauty of the Zhimei Zhai for the first Beijing, and not enough elsewhere to eat also. To the moon cake, everywhere, the big one more than a foot, painted on the shape of the Moon Palace toad rabbit, there are sacrifices and eaters, there are left to New Year's Eve and eaters, called the reunion cake. In addition to the moon cake is the Mid-Autumn Festival food, or gifts to friends and relatives of the holiday gift. With the passage of time, the moon cake has been made by the original family handmade gradually turned into a specialized production, the variety continues to increase, the quality continues to improve, the Ming and Qing dynasties has developed into a traditional form of confectionery. "The modern mooncake in the inheritance of the traditional form of the Ming and Qing dynasties on the basis of a more exquisite production, more varied flavors. Mooncakes from different regions have won people's favor with their unique characteristics: Cantonese mooncakes are thin-skinned, fluffy, sweet, and beautifully filled; Soviet mooncakes are crunchy, crispy, sweet and salty; Chiu Chow mooncakes are stuffed with sweetened winter melon, moist and crunchy. In addition to the traditional round shape, which symbolizes reunion, mooncakes are also available in square, octagonal, triangular and rectangular shapes, with dozens of fillings such as icing sugar, bean paste, lotus seed paste, five kernels, hundred fruits, jujube paste, ham, egg yolk, barbecued pork, and so on, which make up a wide variety of mooncakes. Mooncakes as the Mid-Autumn Festival should be festive food, its cake surface pattern is not related to the moon.