beijing
As Cantonese-style mooncakes make their way into mainstream supermarkets across North America, growing numbers of international consumers are becoming acquainted with Mid-Autumn Festival culture. On the streets of Auckland, New Zealand, children of Chinese descent taught passers-by from other cultural backgrounds to say the Chinese greeting “Happy Mid-Autumn Festival” before offering them mooncakes from Guangzhou Restaurant. Their childlike pronunciation, paired with the sweet, soft mooncakes, transcended language barriers and provided a simple and heartfelt way to share Mid-Autumn Festival culture.
This heart-warming moment was one of many created through Guangzhou Restaurant’s cultural initiative, Moon Fest Lights the World.
The Moon Fest Lights the World Mid-Autumn cultural campaign by Guangzhou Restaurant was held in Manhattan, New York, drawing local residents to join the celebrations.
Founded in 1935, Guangzhou Restaurant is known for its intangible cultural heritage-listed techniques for making Cantonese-style mooncakes. Over the years, the brand has steadily expanded into overseas markets, bringing its Cantonese-style mooncakes to mainstream retail outlets in multiple countries. This year, it launched the Moon Fest Lights the World cultural campaign. Going beyond product exports, the brand aims to convey Eastern sentiments through mooncakes, allowing this “taste of home” to travel across continents and facilitate cultural exchange.
The initiative officially kicked off on August 28. The main venue was located at Canton Tower, a landmark of Guangzhou, while the overseas venue featured large-screen displays in New York’s Times Square. Iconic landmarks in both cities simultaneously lit up with Mid-Autumn-themed visuals, marking the beginning of a global relay of Mid-Autumn greetings.
The Moon Fest Lights the World Mid-Autumn cultural campaign was launched at Canton Tower.
On the evening of September 19, thousands of drones took flight above Canton Tower, painting romantic Mid-Autumn scenes across the night sky. These included the mythological image of Chang’e flying to the moon, the message, “Wishes cross mountains and seas to reach the world; under the full moon, we celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival together,” and a world map formed from mooncake motifs. The aerial show told the story of the initiative setting out from Guangzhou and spreading Mid-Autumn wishes along the ancient Silk Road. A bright full moon shone over lands near and far, connecting Mid-Autumn sentiments at home and abroad.
A drone light show illuminated the sky above Canton Tower, as Guangzhou Restaurant conveyed heartfelt Mid-Autumn greetings through the brilliance of technology.
North America ranks among the most important overseas consumer markets for Cantonese-style mooncakes. Home to a large Chinese community, New York boasts highly recognisable landmarks, including Times Square and Chinatown, making it an ideal first overseas stop for this cultural initiative. Activities extended from offline pop-up events to online social media platforms, bringing Mid-Autumn traditions into the daily lives of young people overseas.
Multiple Mid-Autumn pop-up events were held in Manhattan’s Chinatown. A wish-writing station became a popular photo spot, where passers-by wrote down their hopes for family reunions. Creative “blind-box blessing draws” attracted crowds, with participants stopping to leave greeting cards. Many local residents from other cultural backgrounds tasted authentic Cantonese-style mooncakes for the first time and wrote down messages expressing how much they missed loved ones far away.
Passers-by in Manhattan’s Chinatown took part in the Moon Fest Lights the World campaign, writing Mid-Autumn wishes for family and friends on greeting cards.
After sampling the mooncakes, many international consumers took the initiative to learn about the symbolism of their round shape, which represents family reunion. Some families followed Chinese customs, savouring rich lotus seed paste mooncakes with hot tea. Others cut the mooncakes into pieces on Western-style plates and enjoyed them as elegant desserts. People held up small pieces of mooncake and gently touched them together, imitating the act of raising a toast and experiencing the spirit of togetherness embodied by the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Many overseas content creators filmed vlogs while exploring local big-box retailers such as Costco. Their cameras captured Guangzhou Restaurant mooncake gift boxes adorned with traditional Chinese-style peony, flower and bird motifs. The creators praised the elegant and sophisticated Chinese-style packaging. As they cut open double-yolk white lotus seed paste mooncakes, the plump, glossy golden salted egg yolks filled the frame, capturing overseas consumers’ delight as they tried authentic Cantonese-style mooncakes for the first time.
One particularly eye-catching video featured an outdoor travel content creator enjoying Guangzhou Restaurant mooncakes at a desert campsite in Arizona, the United States. Seated on a picnic mat amid cacti, the creator tasted mooncakes while explaining the Mid-Autumn tradition of moon-gazing. The striking contrast between the desert wilderness and this Eastern festive treat prompted comments from viewers who drew parallels with similar festive traditions around the world and observed that the longing for reunion is shared across cultures.
This enthusiasm for sharing extended well beyond the United States and New Zealand. People in Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada and other countries also joined in. Chinese families posted videos of themselves sharing mooncakes and sending their thoughts back home; local young people brought mooncakes to social gatherings and introduced the Mid-Autumn Festival to their friends; and Chinese students studying abroad spoke of their homesickness while gazing at the moon. People of different nationalities and backgrounds shared Mid-Autumn blessings in their own ways.
Guangzhou Restaurant’s Cantonese-style mooncake advertisement lit up New York’s Times Square, showcasing the craftsmanship and flavours of a time-honoured Chinese brand to the world.
From street corners in Manhattan’s Chinatown to dining tables around the world, mooncakes that have travelled across oceans offer comfort to homesick overseas Chinese and provide the world with a window into the Mid-Autumn Festival’s culture of reunion. Using mooncakes as a cultural bridge, Guangzhou Restaurant is helping more international consumers understand the importance Chinese people place on family reunion and carrying sincere Mid-Autumn wishes from the East to more distant parts of the world.
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