If you are now studying Chinese, you will know poem is a very important part of Chinese culture. This is one of the best famous poems of the Middle Autumn Day.
明月几时有？把酒问青天。不知天上宫阙，今夕是何年。我欲乘风归去，又恐琼楼玉宇，高处不胜寒。起舞弄清影，何似在人间！
转朱阁，低绮户，照无眠。不应有恨，何事长向别时圆！人有悲欢离合，月有阴晴圆缺，此事古难全。但愿人长久，千里共婵娟。
You can read this poem aloud to help you improve your pronunciation for studying Chinese. and this poem also is a beautiful song. Lots of Chinese language students study this song as their first Chinese song.
As we know this is the poem “水调歌头” from the famous poet Su Dongpo who has been remember and honored for thousands of years. Generally speaking, it has been regarded as the best poem to express the deep feeling to his relatives in the Middle Autumn Day. We can realize that he was missing his family members so much and hoped to enjoy the festival with family member together. He also made a good wish to the entire world. This is not the feeling about him, but the feeling of all the people who can not celebrate the Middle Autumn Day with their family members. Therefore, it is famous all over the country for thousands of years.
It is said that The Middle Autumn Day has a long history for more than 2000 years. In ancient times, there is etiquette for the emperor. it is that the emperor had to sacrifice the sun in the spring and sacrifice the moon in the autumn. The earliest record of the Middle Autumn Day is written in “Li Ji”. And it is the considered as the origin of the Middle Autumn Day.
The August is the middle month in the autumn according to the lunar calendar. At the same time, the 15th day is in the middle of every month. One season include 3 months. In ancient times, they were called as Meng, Zhong, and Ji, according to the lunar calendar. The August 15th is in the middle of the Ji. So it is called “中秋Middle Autumn Day”.
The night of the Middle Autumn Day in Song Dynasty
The Middle Autumn Day is one of most important Chinese traditional festival in China. If you study Chinese, you might know something about the Middle Autumn Day.
The Middle Autumn Day was more popular in the Song Dynasty than in Tong Dynasty. August 15th was formulated as the Middle Autumn Day during the Tai Zong period (976—997). There are some records from the book of “Dongjing Menghua Lu”. It is said that the rich family decorated the terraced building with varied beautiful flowers in the night of Middle Autumn Day. On the other hand, the common family may gather together in the restaurant or teahouse to celebrate the Middle Autumn Day. Nevertheless, the children were playing in the streets happily. Some of them did not go home until the next morning. The adults enjoyed the night of the Middle Autumn Day. So did the children. The children always like the noisy and crowded place like the street in the night of the Middle Autumn Day. When the Middle Autumn Day came, the businessmen always reconstruct the front restaurant and decorated the restaurant with the colorful lights and something attractive. The new appearance of restaurant may bring with good luck in the following year. The night of Middle Autumn Day could not be without the wine and the delicious food. The wine was the favor goods in that day. The fresh fruits and beautiful flowers were sold on the both sides of the streets. The businessmen were busy with selling the goods and happy with the sales rate.
Some celebrate the Middle Autumn Day until tomorrow morning.
When the moon came out, the young and the old, male and female may gather in the yard to enjoy and sacrifice the moon with burning incense. The male wished to promote to a higher position and married a rich girl with good virtue. On the other hand, the girl wished to married an excellent boy and lived a happy life with their husband. The moon was in a feminine sense. So in some places, it was normal to sacrifice the moon from female to male. However, some male did not sacrifice the moon in the Middle Autumn Day. And this tradition has fading with the developing of the economy.