A foreign couple teaching at Xinhai Senior High School in Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province, demonstrate eating mooncakes after hearing the legendary story of the cake from their students.[Xinhua]

The Mid-Autumn Festival, or Moon Festival, debate concerning mooncakes and whether they are over-packaged and over-priced has been raging for years.

Being a uniquely Chinese holiday - which began with the custom of worshipping the moon - the exchange of opinions happens mostly between Chinese people of different generations in various locations. But how do foreigners who live in China view the festival? Do they generally agree with old-timers, the traditionalists, or with the young reformers who want to adapt it?

As an old saying goes, bystanders sometimes have a clearer picture. So before the moonlight reunites loved ones, China Daily sampled opinions from a few expatriates who, in this situation, are outsiders looking in, looking at the same moon but with different takes on its implications and on the taste of mooncakes.

"The festival itself should be maintained. There's no way you should lose this festival," said Louise Cadieux, a media consultant for a Beijing-based French-language magazine. "But you should adapt it to the needs of our time."

Cadieux, who has lived in China for 11 years, said it was a huge waste of resources to put the cakes in such lavish boxes. It also adds to the deterioration of the environment and the pressure of pricing.

Another complaint she had was the fillings. "I don't mind that they're sweet, but nowadays few would love such greasy ingredients," she said.

Annette Wiedenbach, who lived in Taiwan for five years then on the mainland for three-and-a-half, is in the rare position of having observed different styles of celebrating the holiday. She said that in Taiwan people get one day off to get together with family members and friends, whereas here it seems all about giving away the cakes. "There should be more respect for the spirit of the festival and its underlying story, which many people don't know," she said.

Like all expats interviewed for this story, Wiedenbach, who works for a German multinational company in Shanghai, has difficulty "digesting" the cakes. "I don't discriminate against mooncakes per se, but many of them contain egg yolk or sweet minced meat mixes, which I cannot eat because I am a vegetarian. Furthermore, I believe that meat should be salty or spicy. Sweetmeat just doesn't sound right."

She suggests trying to make apple pie mooncakes but is happy herself to settle for the Haagen Dazs ice cream cakes.

"I give out mooncakes, too, and I tip my hat to this tradition," laughed B. Gilbert Luzader, an American lawyer who has worked in China since 2000, first at a university in Guangzhou and now for a British company doing corporate training.

Even though some compare the Moon Festival to Thanksgiving in the United States, Luzader said it reminded him more of Christmas because fruitcakes, like mooncakes, are everywhere during the season but are eaten by few. But he did not see much need for tinkering because "the market will take care of that."

(China Daily September 19, 2005)