A boy puts an orange lantern into the Yongning River in Taizhou, east China's Zhejiang Province, Oct. 2, 2009.

Eat, or not to eat

Young people are showing little appetite to moon cakes, a must on the Mid-Autumn Day menu. To cater to this group of picky consumers, bakeries, have in recent years introduced diversified-flavor, and usually expensive, moon cakes.

"Actually few young people like moon cakes, but, anyhow, we have to have some as it is a day for that," said Zhang Chao, a young man in Hohhot, capital of northern Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. He was buying moon cakes at a supermarket.

"So, I prefer small moon cakes. Larger ones or those with delicate packing are too much for me," says Zhang.

For some, they would rather give uneatable "cakes" to their friends.

E-moon cakes are becoming popular among Chinese Internet users.

"Such a moon cake carries as much affection as the traditional edible cakes to my friends, as I have made it with my own hand," said Wang Yue, a student at Shandong University in east China's Jinan City.

An e-moon cake also requires a process of stuffing, baking and packing, but those are done with clicks of the mouse.

There are still people, however, who keep their faith to the traditional flavor of the festival food.

Every day since mid September, Li Shifu has been seeing long queues in front of his bakery in Hohhot.

People queued to wait for Li's moon cakes, which they said were simple but delicious.

Li, his wife and three employees have been busy making moon cakes for more than half a month, and sometimes they can not rest until midnight.