An ode to the moon

Reviving old festivities

For lovers of hanfu, or traditional Chinese costume, Mid-Autumn Festival, together with other traditional festivals, are occasions to dress up in their favorite outfits and have a gettogether to revive old festivities.

Yu Mengting, president of the Beijing Mowu Tianxia Hanfu Association, says the group meets to make mooncakes and lanterns, hold a ceremony to honor the moon, enjoy guqin (seven-stringed lyre) performances, take turns to recite poems and play pitch-pot games.

She says in ancient times, Chinese people attached great importance to etiquette and made strict rules for the types of clothes worn on different occasions. Just as hanfu has been revived in recent years, other elements of traditional culture like incense have also been promoted.

"Hanfu and traditional festivals complement each other. We love hanfu as well as traditional culture, and we like to discover how ancient people celebrated their festivals," she says.

Yu says public awareness about hanfu has been greatly increased over the past decade.

"Passers-by will rarely size you up curiously when you wear hanfu now. It also means we're more confident about our culture," she says.

"Hanfu has become an integral part of my life. It's stylish, and I often match it with my modern clothes."

The average age of the members of her association is 26. They often hold activities in museums, parks or shopping malls to promote hanfu culture among the public.

Thanks to mobile internet, people often share short videos of their celebrations online, particularly in the Chaoshan area in Guangdong province.

For those working away from home, short videos about local operas or temple fairs often help to ease feelings of homesickness.

Last year, Zhang Tao started to post the traditional customs of the Chaoshan area on the short video platform Kuaishou, and now has over 100,000 fans.

"It's about recording my life and sharing it with people who share the same hobby," says Zhang Tao, a businessman from Shantou city in the same area.

"In Chaoshan, it's a tradition to build a pagoda-shaped kiln and burn it on the night of Mid-Autumn Festival to celebrate the harvest and pray for blessings. Locals gather to watch the ceremony, watch the moon and burn offerings, which I also film and post online."