Happy Mid Autumn Festival to you all.....yes its a national holiday here in China today.

First a little bit of history......
The Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋节 : zhōng qiū jié) is one of the two most important holidays in the Chinese calendar. Like most traditional festivals, the Moon Festival is steeped in legend. This festival dates back over 3,000 years, to moon worshiping in the Shang Dynasty (1600–1046 BC). However, not until the early Tang Dynasty (618–907) was the day officially celebrated as a traditional festival. It then became an established festival during the Song Dynasty (960–1279). Chinese family members have dinner together in the evening of Mid-Autumn Festival. After the dinner, they may talk about their work, the children, and their future plans. Sometimes, people go to a park to see the decorations made for the festival.

Eating moon cakes(月饼 : yuè bǐng) is the most popular celebration of the day. These are traditional Chinese pastries, made of wheat flour and sweet stuffings such as sugar and lotus seed powder. Moon cake is a symbol of family reunion, and the cake is traditionally cut into pieces that equal to the number of people in the family. On the evening of a Mid-Autumn Festival, families stay up late and get together eating moon cakes and gazing at the moon. Sitting around the table is called "Yuan Yue" (full moon) while going out on night streets is called “Zou Yue” (walking under the full moon). In Chinese culture, the full moon is a symbol of peace and prosperity of the whole family.

In Nanjing there are some unique traditions associated with this festival. Each family must have stewed salt-preserved duck (!) during mid-autumn celebrations. The festival coincides with the blooming season of sweet-scented osmanthus flowers so local people like to pick fresh osmanthus flowers for food preparation during the festival. They traditionally eat osmanthus flower duck and drink the flower juice as a tea. Not bad really!

Well I have to say it feels strange talking about mid-autumn when it is still 29 degrees!! Although the temperatures have dropped considerably in the last week - now averaging mid 20s instead of mid 30s but still quite humid on most days. I am reliably informed by my Chinese friends that autumn is VERY short here and then we go into winter....now I'm told it gets very cold and even snows!!! Talk about one extreme to the other - I may even end up with a white Christmas!

Everywhere I've walked this week I have seen many locals carrying boxes and boxes of moon cakes in preparation for today. Most are beautifully decorated boxes which almost look too good to break open. Also came across some funny chinglish signs which I've added for you.The shops and streets have been jam-packed with everyone shopping for the festival before they head home to their families. Today you could run down the middle of the main streets and not risk getting hit by a car....guessing everyone is home!!! The University gave all faculty members a box of moon cakes which I will take great delight in enjoying. Following Chinese tradition you cut the cake into equal pieces for each member of the family.......well as I am on my own I guess I will have to eat the WHOLE cake by myself....poor me!!

This has been a week of intense planning for me. I have organized my Chinese lessons, bought my textbooks (all 4 of them!) and start lessons on 10th October. All my students think it is hilarious that their "professor" is also going to be a "freshman". Oh little do they realise just how determined I am and I am already reading the textbooks to try and give myself a good start. Can't be embarrassed by the progress of all the young students.......this old girl is going to give them a run for their money!!

I have also been planning my trip for the national day holidays which is the first week in October. Well planning is completed, tickets booked and I am off to see the "top of the world" aka Tibet. I am a bundle of nerves and excitement as I have also opted to trek to the Mt Everest Base Camp!!!! Everyone in my apartment building thinks I am crazy as I run up and down the 6 flights of stairs.....my aim is to be super fit by the time I go so that the only thing I'll have to worry about is acclimatising to the high altitude. Look forward to blogs from my little adventure...provided I survive!!

Another little known festival that is celebrated in Nanjing in September is the Rain Flower Stone Festival. The rain flower stone, Yuhua Shi, is one of the symbols of Nanjing. A beautiful legend says that in the Liang of Southern Dynasties (502-557) when Master Monk Yunguang was expounding the texts of Buddhism at Jubaoshan ....Heaven was so moved that it rained flowers. So the colorful stones with beautiful patterns and veins in the mountain are called rain flower stone. Rain flower stone is a kind of natural agate stone, and there are not two identical rain flower stones in the world. Every September, a series of activities are held in the YuHuaTai scenic area, such as “It rains rain flowers” performance, rain flowers exhibitions and of course rain flower stones for sale everywhere!, They are known as a "treasure blessed by heaven, unique of China". Naturally one must own at least one of these treasures and I've added a picture of mine. Most people choose stones that resemble something such as a cloud, person , animal etc.....me.....I chose mine because I loved the colours!!

Back to a few of my favourite haunts this week....revisiting the restaurants, cafes etc that I found last semester before I embark on searching out new ones! Took one of the new teachers to my favourite Italian restaurant where I was welcomed like a long lost friend and then given Champagne to celebrate my return!! The new teacher watched in wonder and is looking forward to experiencing similar reactions! She is also from Australia (Brisbane) but honestly sounds like she left Ireland yesterday.....so much for a fellow Aussie accent!!.

Thats all folks....bye for now. xxxx