Shanghai cake fair makes for a delicious Double Ninth Festival
Shot by Dong Jun. Edited by Dong Jun. Subtitles by Yang Meiping.
People buy traditional cakes at the fair in Zhuangqiao Town in Shanghai on Monday, the Double Ninth Festival.
Long queues were seen on Meizhou Road in Minhang District's Zhuanqiao Town as a fair featuring popular cake brands was held on Monday, this year's Double Ninth Festival, or Chongyang Festival.
It's a tradition for Chinese people to make and eat cakes on important occasions, including the Double Ninth Festival, as the word "cake (糕)" is pronounced as "gao" in Chinese, which is the same as another Chinese character "高," which means high or upbeat.
The fair has been organized in the town for 15 years during the Double Ninth Festival and this year's gala saw various traditional Chinese cake brands from local towns in Shanghai such as the barreled steamed cakes from Zhuanqiao and White Dragon cakes (cakes for dragon dancer performers) from Jinshan District's Luxiang Town, as well as those from other places in the Yangtze River Delta region, including Xincheng Town of Zhejiang Province and Wuxi City of Jiangsu Province.
The cake fair attracted crowds of people.
The fair in front of Tianyuan Park attracted hordes of people keen to buy and taste the freshly cooked cakes.
"I came here 8:30am to buy the cakes," said a nearby resident surnamed Yang. "Some of the brands are very popular and you have to head to their outlets in downtown to buy their fresh cakes. But today, we can buy their products at our doorstep."
The Double Ninth Festival is also celebrated as the Senior Citizens' Festival as nine, the largest single digit, sounds like the word for "longevity."
The government of Zhuanqiao Town released a list of senior care programs, including empowering senior nursing homes with artificial intelligence, building community canteens to serve the elderly, renovating homes for seniors, and establishing senior-friendly communities.
Umbrella rotating skill is a cultural heritage in Zhuanqiao Town.
There were also cultural heritage experience activities, such as paper-cutting, shadow play, umbrella rotating and sachet making, at the fair.
Fengtai County of Anhui Province, which gets development support from Zhuanqiao, brought its drum team and traditional Chinese orchestra to stage performances for the audience on site.
Local shopping malls in Shanghai also offered discounts for senior shoppers and arranged various activities, including cake-making and flower arrangement, to celebrate the festival.
