mandarin-chinese-mid-autumn-festival-vocabulary-phrases-traditions

Maureen Stimola Last updated: May 4, 2023

Chinese Learner’s Guide to the Mid-Autumn Festival

If you want to communicate and connect with Chinese speakers, it helps to know Chinese culture.

We’re talking TV programs, popular music, and yes, holidays.

In China, there’s one holiday that’s the biggest of them all: the Mid-Autumn Festival.

It’s a fantastic event filled with family gatherings, outdoor activities, illuminated lanterns, colorful costumes, entertaining dances, and scrumptious mooncakes.

An Introduction to the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival
Key Mid-Autumn Festival Traditions
Places to Go for the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival
Phrases to Know for the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival

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An Introduction to the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival

There is both a practical and a romantic origin to the Mid-Autumn Festival. On the right-brained side of things, the festival is said to have originated when early Chinese scholars recognized that the moon had a close relationship to climate, seasonal changes, and the previous year’s agricultural successes and failures. Thus, Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations began to revolve around the autumn equinox, when the sun and moon each shine for exactly 12 hours.

Due to the moon cycle’s connection with agriculture, the celebration is closely tied to autumn harvests. In rural Chinese communities, people harvest their crops very close to the autumn equinox. The Mid-Autumn Festival is a celebration of their hard work, sufficient rainfall, and overall crop yields made possible by the moon.

Key Mid-Autumn Festival Traditions

Family Reunions

The most important part of the Chinese Mid-Autumn festival is the family reunion. They get together to enjoy the bright moon, holiday activities, special foods, songs and stories. It is believed that the moon is symbolic of family togetherness.

Mooncakes

Mooncakes are the official Mid-Autumn Festival holiday treat. They are round to reflect the shape of the moon, and their decorations and fillings range from simple to elaborate. The typical mooncake is made from wheat flour and stuffed with sugary fillings such as sweetened red bean paste, powdered lotus seeds,

Lanterns

Lanterns are illuminated for many different Chinese holidays, and the Mid-Autumn Festival is no exception. While lanterns do hold symbolic meanings, the primary reason behind lighting them up is because they’re beautiful, mimicking the moon’s brightness in the city streets.

Stories

Plenty of legends swirl around the holiday. In one historical tale, an ancient Chinese dynasty sends secret messages tucked away in mooncakes. Other fanciful stories abound, recounting the fateful actions of divine beings, charismatic animals, and journeys to the moon. These are told during family gatherings and public events.

Prayers and Sacrifices to the Moon Goddess

While there are many variations on this classic Mid-Autumn Festival story, here’s the main gist: the legendary hero Houyi performs a feat of heroic strength and a divine being gives him an elixir of immortality. In every version of this story, Houyi’s wife, Chang’e, ends up consuming the elixir herself and is shot off to the moon, where she dwells in a lunar palace to this day. Sacrifices and prayers made to the moon during the Mid-Autumn Festival go straight to her doorstep.

The Chinese fascination with Chang’e has led the nation’s space program to name lunar rovers and other space travel devices after her. Meanwhile, in the USA, Houston officially requested that Buzz Aldrin watch out for her.

Places to Go for the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival

You can get in on the most action by visiting a lively urban area, or, alternatively, you can choose to soak up the cherished moonlight in a peaceful, rural town.

In China’s more populous cities, colored lanterns hang from every storefront and there are tons of public events to enjoy. Shanghai’s skyscrapers boast some of the most impressive Mid-Autumn Festival views. In Beijing, you can visit the Altar of the Moon, where long-ago Chinese emperors once made sacrifices to the moon. This site, along with the many temples and altars scattered throughout the city, offers a tranquil moon-viewing location. Parks, gardens, riverfront streets and bridges are some of the best places to explore during this festival.

If you prefer a rural location, join a quiet Chinese village on their ascent to a mountaintop where they observe the moon in even greater peace. You can also choose to hop on board a cruise ship or riverboat – the moon is said to be even more beautiful when reflected in the water, and you’ll get a nice vista of the lanterns burning on shore.

Phrases to Know for the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival

中秋节 (zhōng qiū jié) — Mid-Autumn Festival

mandarin-chinese-mid-autumn-festival-vocabulary-phrases-traditions

中秋节是中国的传统节日。

(zhōng qiū jié shì zhōng guó de chuán tǒng jié rì.)

Mid-Autumn Festival is a traditional Chinese festival.

团圆 (tuán yuán) — Reunion

今天是我们家人团圆的日子。

(jīn tiān shì wǒ men jiā rén tuán yuán de rì zi.)

Today is the day of our family reunion.

月饼 (yuè bǐng) — Mooncake

我喜欢吃冰淇淋月饼。

(wǒ xǐ huān chī bīng qí lín yuè bǐng.)

I like to eat ice-cream mooncakes.

灯笼 (dēng lóng) — Lantern

街上的灯笼真好看！

(jiē shàng de dēng lóng zhēn hǎo kàn!)

The lanterns on the street are really pretty!

后羿 (hòu yì) — Houyi, a Mythological Chinese Figure

后羿是古代传说中的一位英雄。

(hòu yì shì gǔ dài chuán shuō zhōng de yī wèi yīng xióng.)

Houyi is a hero of ancient legends.

嫦娥 (cháng é) — Chang’e, a Chinese Goddess

据说，嫦娥生活在月宫里。

(jù shuō, cháng é shēng huó zài yuè gōng lǐ.)

It’s said that Chang’e lives in the Moon Palace.

赏月 (shǎng yuè) — To Gaze at the Moon; To Admire the Moon

很多人都到山上的亭子里去赏月。

(hěn duō rén dōu dào shān shàng de tíng zi lǐ qù shǎng yuè.)

Many people go to mountaintop pavilions to admire the moon.

习俗 (xí sú) — Custom; Habit

每一个节日，都有很多不同的习俗。

(měi yí gè jié rì, dōu yǒu hěn duō bù tóng de xí sú.)

Every festival has many different customs.

节日 (jié rì) — Festival; Holiday

春节对中国人来说，是一年里最重要的节日。

(chūn jié duì zhōng guó rén lái shuō, shì yì nián lǐ zuì zhòng yào de jié rì.)

To the Chinese, the Spring Festival is the most important festival of the year.

月亮 (yuè liàng) — Moon

晚上的月亮又大又圆，真漂亮！

(wǎn shàng de yuè liàng yòu dà yòu yuán, zhēn piào liang!)

The moon at night is large and round – it’s so pretty!

祭祀 (jì sì) — To Offer Sacrifices; To Worship

明天，他们要举行祭祀祖先的仪式。

(míng tiān, tā men yào jǔ xíng jì sì zǔ xiān de yí shì.)

Tomorrow, they will be holding a ceremony to offer sacrifices to the ancestors.

农历 (nóng lì) — The Lunar/Traditional Calendar

他的生日是每年的农历八月初八。

(tā de shēng rì shì měi nián de nóng lì bā yuè chū bā.)

His birthday falls on the eighth day of the eighth month of every lunar year.

佳节 (jiā jié) — Festival; Holiday

每逢佳节倍思亲。

(měi féng jiā jié bèi sī qīn.)

Every festival, the yearning for one’s family doubles.

送礼 (sòng lǐ) — To Give Someone a Gift

后天是情人节，你要给我送礼的。

(hòu tiān shì qíng rén jié, nǐ yào gěi wǒ sòng lǐ de. )

It’s Valentine’s Day the day after tomorrow – you have to give me a gift.

思念 (sī niàn) — To Long for; To Miss; To Think of

我很思念远方的亲人。

(wǒ hěn sī niàn yuǎn fāng de qīn rén.)

I really miss my family who is far away.

亲情 (qīn qíng) — Familial Love; Kinship

我最看重的是家人间的亲情。

(wǒ zuì kàn zhòng de shì jiā rén jiān de qīn qíng.)

What I value the most is the kinship between family members.

传统 (chuán tǒng) — Tradition

孝敬父母，是中国人的优良传统。

(xiào jìng fù mǔ, shì zhōng guó rén de yōu liáng chuán tǒng.)

Being filial to parents is an excellent tradition of the Chinese.

文化 (wén huà) — Culture

他是研究中国文化的专家。

(tā shì yán jiū zhōng guó wén huà de zhuān jiā.)

He’s an expert that studies Chinese culture.

Extra Practice with Mid-Autumn Festival Phrases

For more practice with these phrases, you can create a themed flashcard deck or check out what Mid-Autumn Festival flashcard sets are already available online. You can also watch some Chinese cultural videos on YouTube to see what else you can pick up.

If you want to be able to use these holiday phrases in other contexts, you can always search for your new vocabulary on FluentU.

FluentU is a language education app that teaches Mandarin through snippets of real Chinese media. Plug any of the phrases above into the app and you’ll find trailers, advertisements and others that feature your search.

Interactive subtitles help you learn words within context, as well as discover more information, such as grammar notes and other related clips. And if you require additional practice, you can add any words from the subtitles into a personal word list or flashcard deck, and challenge yourself with the SRS quizzes.

Has this introduction to the Mid-Autumn Festival has gotten you excited about the holiday? Travel to China, or visit a Chinese community in your area, to see the fun, beautiful celebrations for yourself! Family gatherings, lanterns, mooncakes, moon-viewing parties, songs, poems, stories, and games are among the customs observed during the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Of course, you have to remember that China is an extraordinarily diverse country. The many different ethnic groups residing there have their own, unique ways of celebrating the holiday. Explore and discover the many reasons why the Mid-Autumn Festival is so important to Chinese culture.