Mid-Autumn Festival

We recently celebrated Mid-Autumn Festival in China. The festival usually occurs around the Autumn equinox, and is a time to be reunited with family and share in the eating of traditional foods. In the spirit of food, the International Student Office at Sichuan University held a buffet, and invited all the foreign students to come. And by the way, it was free. My classmates and I read the announcement, and then decided that in the spirit of free stuff, we would go.

The previous evening, my Chinese roommate brought home a box of moon cakes. Moon cakes have a long history of being the food to eat during Mid-Autumn Festival. The moon cakes are similar in texture and appeal to fruit cake. The nuts, fruit and bean paste make the cake dense and chewy. Inside the cake is the yolk of a salted duck egg. Many Chinese people say that the yolk is there to symbolize the round shape of the full moon. Others say that the yolk being round, reminds people of having reunion with their family. The word for "reunion" and "round" sound the same in Chinese.

My roommate gave both Sarah and I one to eat, and then headed off to her room for the evening. I pulled at her sleave as she walked by my chair, "Aren't you going to have one?"

"No, I don't really like them." But yet, she was forcing us to try them. We gagged them down, put the rest away, and went to bed.

The day of the buffet came, and we all arrived on time and ready to eat. I was surprised at the large turnout among the foreign students. Not only were all the tables filled, but extra chairs had to be set up just to accomodate everyone. A large table filled the center of the room. The table top was jammed with every type of Chinese food you can imagine. Everything had been pushed together to make room for all the dishes. The president of SU gave a short speech, and then we were given permission to eat.

After living here for a week, one starts to pick up the Chinese way of doing things. The Chinese don't stand in lines, they either do things in the free-for-all style, or they just cut. It was clear that the foreigners had all picked up on both of these things, and were using these skills to the best of their abilities. As soon as we were given the go ahead, the entire mass of foriegn students stood up and rushed to the table. Those that arrived first became trapped by the dozens behind them. Those that were in the middle were stuck passing trays and plates between those in the back and those squished against the table. People were shouting orders to each other, all the while trying to maintain enough space between them to breath.

"Will you scoop up some corn?"

"How 'bout some of those noodles?"

"I'll give you some of the pork, if you give me some of those egg roll thingys..."

I stood in the back of the crowd and watched it go one like this for quite some time. Finally, I decided to enter the throng of people and push my way to the front. I started pushing and shoving, using my arm to keep my tray from being knocked over. I felt like I was in a mosh pit; everything was loud, and everyone was pushing and shoving. When I finally got near enough that I could reach for some food, I was stuck. I couldn't move an inch in any direction. I just stood there and waited for someone to pass me a plate. The least I could do was help the others. Eventually the crowd thinned to the point that I could slowly make my way out and to my table. The food was good, not great. But did I tell you it was free?