月餅(Moon Cakes)
月餅(moon cakes)
there is this story about the moon-cake. during the yuan dynasty (a.d. 1280-1368) china was ruled by the mongolian people. leaders from the preceding sung dynasty (a.d. 960-1280) were unhappy at submitting to the foreign rule, and set how to coordinate the rebellion without being discovered. the leaders of the rebellion, knowing that the moon festival was drawing near, ordered the making of special cakes. backed into each moon cake was a message with the outline of the attack. on the night of the moon festival, the rebels successfully attached and overthrew the government. today, moon cakes are eaten to commemorate this legend and was called the moon cake.
for generations, moon cakes have been made with sweet fillings of nuts, mashed red beans, lotus-seed paste or chinese dates（棗子）, wrapped in a pastry. sometimes a cooked egg yolk can be found in the middle of the rich tasting dessert. people compare moon cakes to the plum pudding and fruit cakes which are served in the english holiday seasons.
nowadays, there are hundreds varieties of moon cakes on sale a month before the arrival of moon festival.