Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as Moon Festival, Autumn Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, August Festival, Moon Chasing Festival, Moon Appreciation Festival, Daughter's Day or Reunion Festival, is a popular traditional cultural festival in China and East Asian countries. It falls on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month. Because its value is only half that of Sanqiu, it is named, and some places set the Mid-Autumn Festival on August 16.

The Mid-Autumn Festival began in the early years of the Tang Dynasty and prevailed in the Song Dynasty. In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, it was as famous as New Year's Day and became one of the major festivals in China. Influenced by Chinese culture, Mid-Autumn Festival is also a traditional festival in some countries in Southeast Asia and Northeast Asia, especially for overseas Chinese living there.

Since 2008, Mid-Autumn Festival has been listed as a national statutory holiday. The state attaches great importance to the protection of intangible cultural heritage. On May 20th, 2006, the festival was approved by the State Council to be included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list.

Nickname of Mid-Autumn Festival

According to China's calendar, August in the lunar calendar is in the middle of autumn, that is, the second month of autumn, which is called "Mid-Autumn Festival", and August 15th is among them, so it is called "Mid-Autumn Festival".

Mid-Autumn Festival has many nicknames: it is called "August Festival" and "August and a half" because it falls on August 15th; Because the main activities of the Mid-Autumn Festival are all around the moon, it is also commonly known as the "Moon Festival" and "Moon Festival". The full moon in Mid-Autumn Festival symbolizes reunion, so it is also called "Reunion Festival". In the Tang Dynasty, the Mid-Autumn Festival was also called "correcting the moon".

The record of "Reunion Festival" was first seen in the Ming Dynasty. "Journey to the West Lake" says: "August 15th is the Mid-Autumn Festival, and people send moon cakes to show their reunion". "A Brief Introduction to the Scenery of the Imperial Capital" also said: "On August 15th, the moon was sacrificed, the cakes were round, the melons were wrongly divided, and the petals were carved with lotus flowers. Those who are married to their relatives in the province will all return to their husbands' families to celebrate the reunion festival in the future. "