Chinese Celebrate Mid-Autumn Festival in Modern and Traditional Ways

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Peple in China celebrate in various ways the traditional Mid-Autumn Festival which fell on Saturday this year. On the Chinese mainland, the festival adds one more day to the week-long National Day holiday. People are spending the holiday and celebrating the festival in both modern and traditional ways.

He Fei has the story.

Reporter:

This year, China's National Day holiday and the Mid-Autumn Festival, one of the most important traditional festivals in China for family re-unions, coincide on the calendar.

Many people choose to travel to celebrate the longest ever public holiday, while those who are far away from home choose to stage a family re-union.

Scenic spots across the country are becoming crowded, while traffic in many areas has become busy due to the high volume of people on the roads.

A manager from the Tianhe International travel agency in Chengde, a popular destination near Beijing, says the company's business has increased sharply for the holiday.

"Our business has seen an increase of more than 30 percent compared with the same period last year."

However, Chinese people still want to retain some of the traditional elements to celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival.People flood food stores in major cities purchasing mooncake, which has been a traditional part of the celebrations for hundreds of years.

A salesperson in Beijing says his food shop is working around the clock to meet market demand.

"We have stocked 500 kinds of mooncake to meet the market demand. For the National Day holiday, we also prepared some special goods like Sushi. We also have discounts and sales promotions."

The eight-day National Day holiday began on Thursday this year. Up to Friday, the 119 sightseeing spots monitored by China's travel authority reported nearly three million visitors, almost 10 percent more than last year.

He Fei, CRI News.