Dietary customs of the Mid-Autumn Festival on the 15th day of August in the Han Chinese calendar. Su Dongpo, a great poet in the Song Dynasty, once praised moon cakes with a poem, "A small cake is like chewing the moon, with crisp inside and stuffing inside", which shows that moon cakes in the Song Dynasty already have ghee and sugar stuffing. In the Yuan Dynasty, it was said that people took advantage of the opportunity of giving mooncakes to carry a note in them, and agreed to take action at the same time to kill and drive away Mongolian "Tatars" on the evening of August 15. In the Ming Dynasty, the custom of eating moon cakes on Mid-Autumn Festival became more common. Ming Shenbang's "Wan Bu Miscellaneous Notes" contains: "The furniture of ordinary people's homes is a kind of moon cake with different sizes, which is called moon cake." "Proceedings" said: "In August, Haitang and Hosta flowers were enjoyed in the palace. From the first day of the first lunar month, mooncakes have been sold, and by the fifteenth day, every household has provided mooncakes and melons. If there are still moon cakes left, they should be stored in a dry and cool place and used separately at the end of the year, called reunion cakes. " After the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, the custom of giving away mooncakes on Mid-Autumn Festival became increasingly popular, and mooncakes had the symbolic meaning of "reunion". From Qing Dynasty to modern times, new progress has been made in the quality and variety of moon cakes. Different raw materials, production methods and shapes make moon cakes more colorful, forming Beijing flavor, Suzhou flavor, Guangdong style and other unique varieties. Moon cakes are not only unique holiday food, but also exquisite cakes available in all seasons, which are deeply loved by people.

The word moon cake was first seen in Liang Lumeng by Wu in the Southern Song Dynasty. At that time, moon cakes were diamond-shaped, chrysanthemum cakes and plum cakes coexisted, and they were "available at any time and can be called at will without missing customers". It can be seen that moon cakes at this time are not only eaten during the Mid-Autumn Festival. As for the origin of the word moon cake, there is no textual research. However, Su Dongpo, a famous scholar in the Northern Song Dynasty, left a poem "Little cakes are like chewing the moon, and there is fullness in the crisp", which may be the origin of the name of moon cakes and the basis of their practice.

It is said that eating moon cakes in the Mid-Autumn Festival began in the Yuan Dynasty. At that time, the broad masses of the people in the Central Plains could not bear the cruel rule of the ruling class in the Yuan Dynasty and rose up against the Yuan Dynasty. Zhu Yuanzhang joined forces with various resistance forces to prepare for the uprising. However, the officers and men of the imperial court searched very closely, and it was very difficult to pass on the news. Liu Bowen, a military adviser, came up with a plan and ordered his men to hide the note with the words "Uprising on the 15th of August" in the cake, and then sent people to the uprising troops in different places to inform them to respond to the uprising on the 15th of August. On the day of the uprising, all the rebels responded together, such as a single spark can start a prairie fire. Soon, Xu Da captured the Yuan Dynasty and the uprising was successful. When the news came, Zhu Yuanzhang was so happy that he quickly sent a message that all the soldiers should have fun with the people in the upcoming Mid-Autumn Festival and give the "moon cakes" secretly sent at the time of the war as seasonal cakes to the ministers. Since then, the production of "moon cakes" has become more and more elaborate, and more and more varieties, such as disks, have become the best gifts. After the Mid-Autumn Festival, the custom of eating moon cakes spread among the people. Some places have also formed many special Mid-Autumn Festival customs.

There have been many records about moon cakes since the Ming Dynasty. At this time, the moon cakes are round and only eaten in the Mid-Autumn Festival, which is the main offering of the popular Mid-Autumn Festival in the Ming Dynasty. "A Brief View of the Imperial Capital" says: "On August 15th, the moon is sacrificed, and the fruit cakes are round." "Home moonlight is located on the moon, worshiping the moon, then burning moonlight paper and withdrawing the supply, and the scattered family is over. Moon cakes bear fruit, and relatives feed them back. The cake is two feet in diameter.

Moon cakes symbolize reunion, which should have started in the Ming Dynasty. If we look at the information about moon cakes and Mid-Autumn Festival folk customs in the Ming Dynasty, we should be able to see the historical track of the reunion of moon cakes: after the Mid-Autumn Festival, the whole family will sit together and share moon cakes and fruits (offerings of the moon). Because moon cakes are also round and shared by the whole family, it gradually forms the implication that moon cakes represent family reunion.