Mid-Autumn Festival boosts cultural vibes

Tourists walk on Duanqiao Bridge (Broken Bridge) in the West Lake scenic area in Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang province, Sept 17, 2024. (Photo/Xinhua)

Family reunions and short-distance trips have been keynotes of the just-completed Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, with cultural or amusing night events with Chinese vibes favored by travelers, although Typhoon Bebinca disrupted some travelers' itineraries, according to travel agencies.

The holiday is one of China's most traditional festivals. Chinese usually celebrate by reuniting with family members, admiring the full moon, and praying for a good harvest and happiness.

Travel agencies noted that this year's three-day holiday — from Sunday to Tuesday — was just two weeks before the weeklong National Day holiday in early October. Therefore, many travelers choose to make short-distance trips near their workplaces or homes or return to their hometowns to meet with family members.

Typhoon Bebinca, which made its landfall in Shanghai on Monday and was believed to be the strongest typhoon to hit the city in 75 years, disrupted the travel plans of local residents and those in neighboring provinces including Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

Due to the typhoon, several tourism spots were shut down, and flight and high-speed rail services departing from or arriving in Shanghai and neighboring cities, including Ningbo and Hangzhou in Zhejiang, and Nanjing and Suzhou in Jiangsu, were canceled or suspended on Sunday and Monday.

"We planned a two-day and one-night self-driving trip to Huzhou, Zhejiang, but canceled because of the typhoon. We made jiaozi, or dumplings, at home to celebrate the holiday, and ate two mooncakes to make up for the canceled trip," said Lu Meng, 30, who is from Wuxi, Jiangsu.

For those who weren't affected by the typhoon and succeeded in making their trips, destinations with cultural and folk activities or Chinese vibes were top choices for spending the holiday, travel agencies said.

The travel portal Tuniu said that tour-product bookings to Shanxi province and northwestern provinces like Gansu, which boast historical temples and Buddhism grottoes, saw remarkable growth at the platform during the holiday. The popularity was due to the hit video game Black Myth: Wukong, which is based on the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West.

Tiefo Temple, a Buddhist temple in Jincheng, Shanxi, received more than 7,000 tourists over the three-day holiday, including around 2,200 travelers from outside of the province, according to the city government.

Tian Zhihui, who is from Zhengzhou, Henan province, said she was stunned by the temple's statues and ancient architecture.

Other provinces and cities also organized diversified cultural activities to attract travelers during the holiday.

Qingdao, Shandong province, held a cultural festival featuring dancing, paper-cutting and calligraphy. During the festival, dancers wore traditional Chinese clothing to enable audiences to have a better understanding of traditional Chinese culture.

In Xiangyang, Hubei province, several tourist spots were decorated with rabbit and moon-shaped lanterns, and the city organized on-site events like mooncake making and lantern riddles for amusement.

Zhu Xingxin in Taiyuan contributed to this story.