Gu has introduced popular western ingredients like ham, chocolate, cheese, coffee, blueberry and cranberry as fillings to make the moon cakes more appealing to foreign visitors and staff in the Expo Garden.

"In one series, the patterns on two different boxes of moon cakes are of the China Pavilion. These are the biggest sellers in our store and hundreds of customers buy these everyday," said Gu.

The prices for the five series of moon cakes vary from 88 yuan to 398 yuan and a delivery service to locations in China is available. Expo greeting cards with a specially designed Mid-Autumn Festival stamp come with the purchase.

Ganso, famed for its ice cream moon cakes, is one of the official bakers of the Expo 2010 Shanghai. It has also launched its Expo limited edition moon cake in the Expo Garden.

"We've sold over 400 boxes of the Expo limited edition series of moon cakes at the three Ganso stores in the Expo Garden. The series is only available within the period of Expo 2010 Shanghai," said Zhong Yunxia, supervisor of Ganso Expo stores.

"We're very proud of being the official baker of the Expo, especially making moon cakes. We haven't added any extra flavors as we think the traditional fillings always remain the best," said Zhong.

For thousands of years, Chinese people have related the vicissitudes of life to changes of the moon as it waxes and wanes - joy and sorrow, parting and reunion. Because the full moon is round and symbolizes reunion, the Mid-Autumn Festival is also known as the festival of reunion. All family members try to get together on this special day, have a big dinner and enjoy the glorious full moon either at home or a restaurant. This year they can share the experience at the Expo Garden.