Legends of Mid-Autumn Festival

In Mid Autumn, all through the city of Huangshan, you will find many legends of mid autumn festival. This festival is considered to be very auspicious for all the people in the area. Legend has it that during the olden days, a daughter went to the emperor of Heaven and asked for permission to marry a handsome king. The emperor granted her wish and gave her the gemstone “Mid-Autumn Festival” which later became the “Star of Mid-Autumn”.

In the morning, there are various activities like visiting the beautiful lake and enjoying the full moon. It was also suggested that the Mid-Autumn Festival was first a national holiday to overthrow the rule of the Yuan Dynasty’s first emperor. According to legend, the daughter of Heaven sent a monkey to look for a handsome bull but the monkey failed in its mission. He then announced to the whole world that anyone who can bring the gemstone “Mid-Autumn” into the moon palace must be accepted as the imperial son-heir. Some time later, the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty came to visit the moon temple hoping to find his son-in-law.

Later on, the story goes that the emperor was not able to find his son-in-law so he ordered all the mice to be killed. The mice complied and as a result, the emperor started to worry and asked his son-in-law to go and inspect the place where the mice had lived before. When he arrived, the emperor noticed a white silk flower in a dish on the porch. He was really delighted and realized that this was the symbol of Mid-Autumn Festival.

Later on, it was believed that because the mice had reminded the emperor of his lost son-in-law, he sent his son-in-law and daughter to study in the Yin Yang energy institute in Yangxian. Later on, according to legend, Song-Yi, the daughter of Huang Bai, brought the white silk flower to the imperial household. Later on, Song-Yi passed away and the legend says that she is the mother of Emperor Ming Dynasty’s concubine, Wu Tieying. At present, Wu Tieying is one of the most famous singers of the xiyao genre and she has also gained a lot of fame and fortune.

As the legend says, Wu Tieying was so kind that she gave up her sweet life to serve the emperor and he loved her very much. She once said that she never expected that the emperors in the past and the present would fall in love with her. In the beginning, the couple was just simple commoners. They had no money and there was no such thing as wedding; however, they were able to start a small trading business and by doing this, they acquired a large number of capital.

After some time, the couple decided to create a large-sized general store for farmers to sell various products and they named it “The Mid-Autumn Festival Store”. Two years later, in order to celebrate the new establishment, the emperor and his wife visited the moon palace. During that time, they were attacked by some drunkards. In order to save his wife, the emperor’s son chased after them. The couple managed to flee and while running, Wu Tieying fell down from a high cliff.

The next day, she was able to regain her health and the next night, they found a white silk flower under a pile of ashes. As it so happened, the white silk flower was a piece of cloth that had the face of a young girl. The next day, they discovered a silver mirror and when they brought it back to the moon palace, the emperor immediately recognized the girl who was wearing it as his own daughter called Wu Shuqi.

Many people also believed that the legend of Mid-Autumn Festival had its origin during the ancient times. Some historians also mentioned that the legend of Mid-Autumn Festival first appeared during the Tang Dynasty which occurred in the third century. This legend of mid-September has been celebrated in China everyday since then.