This year, the traditional Chinese Mid-autumn Festival falls on September 21. As the day draws near, moon cakes become the most popular gift for the occasion. With the range of moon cakes changing constantly, a new variety, packaged in wooden boxes, has appeared on the market. These ‘wooden-box moon cakes,’ made in south China's Guangzhou and north China's Shenyang, are selling, well . . ., like hot cakes in supermarkets and hotels around the country.
Chinese experts estimate that 10 million wooden-boxes of moon cakes will require the felling of over 100 trees, each with a diameter of at least 10 cm. As such, consumers are not only ‘eating’ moon cakes; they are ‘devouring’ a lot of trees too.
China is not particularly rich when it comes woodland resources, with only 16.55 percent of its territory still covered by forests, ranking the country 111th in the world, and with a forest area per-capita ranking of 119. China’s total forest coverage accounts for only 3-4 percent of the world’s total, making it difficult for the nation to meet the needs of 1.3-billion people, accounting for 22 percent of the world’s total.
It is reported, that while the percentage of forest coverage in Japan far exceeds that of China, Japan continues to import large amounts of throwaway chopsticks from China each year. After being used, the imported chopsticks are then recycled into paper pulp. Chinese experts believe this practice deserves at least some consideration.
The date of the Chinese Moon Festival, also called the Mid-Autumn Festival, falls on August 15 of the Chinese lunar month. The festival is used as an occasion for family reunion. At this time, Chinese kin enjoy coming together to eat moon cakes and view the full moon. Offered as gifts, moon cakes play an important role in the festivities. These palm-sized round cakes symbolize complete family unity.
(china.org.cn by Li Jingrong September 20, 2002)
