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Rachel Yeo

Hongkonger Richard Li is looking forward to a Mid-Autumn Festival family gathering this weekend, after celebrations were cancelled for two years because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The 29-year-old senior actuarial associate, who lives on his own, will join his grandfather, grandaunt, uncle and cousins at the family home in Lok Fu in Wong Tai Sin district.
Before the pandemic, the family used to celebrate at a Chinese restaurant, but they decided to eat at home this year because of concerns about being in crowded places, especially with the recent rise in Covid-19 infections.
They will also take extra precautions because his grandfather is in his mid-90s.

“We will do rapid antigen tests before we meet,” Li said.
The Mid-Autumn Festival is the second-biggest Chinese holiday after the Lunar New Year and is celebrated on the night when the moon is at its fullest and brightest – the 15th day of the eighth month in the lunar calendar, which falls on September 10 this year.
It recalls the legend of Chang’e, the goddess on the moon, and families celebrate by getting together for meals featuring auspicious dishes and mooncakes, with lanterns for the children.
At Li’s family gathering, there will be home-made Cantonese dishes including steamed fish, and takeaway roast meat items like char siu. He has also bought mooncakes.
The daily number of new cases has hovered around 9,000 to 10,000 recently, with health authorities on Friday logging 10,076 Covid-19 infections and 11 more deaths.

The recent spike in infections has dampened the Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations for the city’s catering industry, given current restrictions.
Under a measure in force since last month, banquet guests or groups of more than eight diners have to present a photo of a negative rapid antigen test (RAT) result obtained up to 24 hours earlier.
They can also show a text message confirming a negative result for a polymerase chain reaction test issued within the previous 48 hours.
The requirement extended an earlier rule for bar-goers to restaurant patrons.
Things to do at Mid-Autumn Festival, from mooncake making to lantern buying
Ray Chui Man-wai, chairman of the food and beverage industry group Institute of Dining Art, expected Mid-Autumn Festival business to decline compared with last year, when daily infections went as low as single digits.
But he said he believed many Hongkongers were not as worried about the pandemic as they were last year, when they avoided eating out, and especially after the city came through the fifth wave of infections early this year, when cases surged past 50,000 a day at its peak.
“After going through the fifth wave for three to four months, with many Hongkongers getting infected, many think there is not much to be worried about,” he said.
But restaurants were still dealing with multiple cancellations because people were taking care to prevent vulnerable family members from contracting the virus.

Simon Wong Ka-wo, president of the Hong Kong Federation of Restaurants and Related Trades, said bookings this year had reached only 50 per cent of restaurant capacity, compared with 90 per cent last year.
Those with bigger families were more likely to eat at home to avoid having to take a RAT, and bookings were mainly for tables of six or seven people.
Sales of Mid-Autumn hampers – usually an assortment of fruit, wine or mooncakes – have also fallen this year, said Justin Chung, chief executive officer of Gift Hampers HK.
He said his company had found it hard to hire casual workers to pack hampers, as many preferred doing better-paying anti-pandemic jobs with the government.
“We can’t pay that kind of money, unfortunately,” he said.
The lack of manpower meant his company had to focus on bigger, costlier hampers, and could not serve customers who wanted smaller, less expensive ones.


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Hong Kong culture

There will be mooncakes and lanterns, but spike in Hong Kong Covid-19 infections dampens Mid-Autumn Festival mood

A Mid-Autumn Festival lantern display at Victoria Park in Causeway Bay. The spike in Covid-19 cases is casting a shadow over celebrations. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Many families are choosing to celebrate at home rather than complying with the new rules for eating out. Photo: Sam Tsang

Residents have been urged to do rapid antigen tests before attending big gatherings this weekend. Photo: Felix Wong

Simon Wong, president of the Hong Kong Federation of Restaurants and Related Trades. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Mid-Autumn Festival in Hong Kong – from mooncakes and lanterns to fire dragon dances, how it is celebrated

The lantern festival held at Sik Sik Yuen Wong Tai Sin Temple in 2021. Photo: Dickson Lee

Lantern displays are an integral part of Mid Autumn Festival celebrations in Hong Kong. Photo: Dickson Lee

Mooncakes are synonymous with Mid-Autumn Festival. One of the most popular bakeries for mooncakes, Tai Tung Bakery in Yuen Long, sells 90,000 boxes of mooncakes every year. Photo: K.Y. Cheng

Children play with candles and lanterns to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival at Victoria Park in Causeway Bay. Photo: Sam Tsang

People pose for pictures against a giant moon in Kwun Tong, Hong Kong, to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival in 2021. Photo: Nora Tam

Residents of Tai Hang have celebrated the Mid-Autumn Festival with a fire dragon dance since 1880. Photo: M. Chan 

Mooncakes these days come in many different flavours. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Mid-Autumn Festival beyond China: how other Asian countries celebrate it, what they eat and the myths and legends associated with it

People praying in Thailand in 2016 during the Moon Praying Festival. The Mid-Autumn Festival is celebrated in many different ways outside China. Photo: Shutterstock

Performers celebrate the Moon Praying Festival in Thailand in 2019. Photo: AFP

The streets are lit with lanterns during Tet Trung Thu in Vietnam. Photo: Facebook

Children stand around a big mooncake on display during a celebration for the Mid-Autumn Festival in the Philippines in 2017. Photo: Xinhua

 A street in Nagasaki, Japan, is all decked out for the Mid-Autumn Festival in 2015. Photo: Shutterstock

The Japanese eat rabbit-shaped Tsukimi dango, a mochi-like sweet rice dumpling, for good health and happiness. Photo: Facebook

People pay their respects before an altar near the demilitarised zone (DMZ) separating North and South Korea in 2021. Photo: AFP

Charye is an important part of Chuseok in South Korea. Photo: Shutterstock

News

Hong Kong

Society

Health & Environment

Coronavirus

Greater China


Restaurants say diners put off by Covid-19 testing requirements are choosing to celebrate at home
Fewer families are eating out compared with last year, when infection numbers were much lower



Restaurants say diners put off by Covid-19 test requirements are choosing to celebrate at home.


There will be mooncakes and lanterns, but spike in Hong Kong Covid-19 infections dampens Mid-Autumn Festival mood

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;} Restaurants say diners put off by Covid-19 testing requirements are choosing to celebrate at home Fewer families are eating out compared with last year, when infection numbers were much lower

Restaurants say diners put off by Covid-19 testing requirements are choosing to celebrate at home

Fewer families are eating out compared with last year, when infection numbers were much lower