70th anniversary of Hanoi's Liberation Day Vietnam - Asia 2023 Smart City Summit Hanoi celebrates 15 years of administrative boundary adjustment 12th Vietnam-France decentrialized cooperation conference 31st Sea Games - Vietnam 2021 Covid-19 Pandemic
Home / Social Affairs
People busy with buying mooncakes in HCM city
Le Tran 17:07, 2014/08/08
The mooncake is a symbol of Mid Autumn Festival celebrated by Vietnamese for centuries.
With a few weeks to go until the traditional Mid Autumn Festival which is held on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month, HCM City is already bustling with people buying mooncakes for relatives and friends.
 
Parents and teachers often tell the real story behind the cake's history to the children at a very early age.
Anh says that the lotus and green bean paste inside the cakes represent nature and people, while the egg symbolises yin and yang, the ancient Chinese philosophy of positive and negative forces.
The mooncake comes in two varieties, sweet banh deo (sticky rice cake) and savoury banh nuong (baked cake).
Anh and her classmates will celebrate the festival by making the cake at home and then eating it at school.
The first mooncake bakers in HCM City were Chinese-Vietnamese residents who lived in District 5's China town in the 1940s.
In 1960, popular mooncake bakeries, such as Dong Khanh, Long Xuong and Dong Hung Vien, began to deliver and sell their products to other southern and central provinces.
But many housewives still make homemade cakes every year for their family and friends.
Special banh nuong, made with bird's nest and shark fins, costs at least VND400,000 ($19) each. The largest, weighing a kilo, costs about VND1 million ($48).
In June, Kinh Do exported more than 100,000 mooncakes to the US and has prepared to sell the cakes to foreign markets like France, Australia and Cambodia.
In northern provinces, mooncakes under the brandnames like Hai Ha, Huu Nghi and Ha Noi, are popular among customers.
Other news
20:36, 2024/04/19
Hanoi launches occupational safety action month
Ensuring a healthy working environment is one of the most important requirements in business, preventing work accidents and occupational diseases.
15:25, 2024/04/15
Hanoi digitizes public transport ticketing
Virtual ticketing helps save the cost of issuing physical tickets and the time customers spend travelling to ticket counters.
23:14, 2024/04/02
A new lease on life for Hanoi's community library system
Hanoi's libraries have been instrumental in the spread of the reading movement in the community in recent years.
13:51, 2024/03/25
Gen-Z workers driven by career advancement and work environment
Approximately three-quarters of Gen Z employees or students are looking for a job that is fun.
20:39, 2024/03/22
Wide range of World Water Day 2024 activities in Vietnam
Vietnam emphasizes the importance of providing clean water nationwide, and the rapid progress it's making.
21:13, 2024/03/19
Hanoi police fine street vendors for overcharging foreign tourists
Hanoi authorities have asked the vendor to behave in a manner befitting Hanoi's image.