CIIC:Today's featured article/October 3, 2009

The Mid-Autumn Festival falls on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month, usually in October in Gregorian calendar. The festival has a long history. In ancient China, emperors followed the rite of offering sacrifices to the sun in spring and to the moon in autumn. Historical books of the Zhou Dynasty had had the word "Mid-Autumn". Later aristocrats and literary figures helped expand the ceremony to common people. They enjoyed the full, bright moon on that day, worshipped it and expressed their thoughts and feelings under it. (More ... )