Families enjoy their outdoor gathering and admire the full moon near Beidaihe seaside during the Mid-Autumn Festival in north China's Hebei Province. (Xinhua)

The Mid-Autumn Festival started as a harvest festival held on the 15th day of the eighth month on the lunar calendar, a full moon night between late September and early October.

The festival is an important traditional holiday in China, perhaps just behind the Spring Festival, or Chinese New Year. This year's Mid-Autumn Festival falls on September 15.

Nowadays, the festival is an outdoor occasion for family reunions to deliver good wishes for future and cherish such gathering and harmony.

Traditional celebrations include sharing mooncakes, admiring the full moon, and playing riddles, a highly engaged word game written on paper lanterns.

The perfectly round mooncakes resemble the full moon and are symbols of unity. They are normally sweet. The stuffing and making of such "Chinese pies" can vary greatly from east to west.

Colorful 3-D printed mooncakes are offered by mechanical engineering college students in Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations in East China's Jiangsu Province on September 12. (Xinhua)

Citizens in Macao take photos on the lantern show near Senado Square on September 10 before the forthcoming Mid-Autumn Festival. (Xinhua)

Listed as an intangible culture heritage by the Chinese government in 2006, the Mid-Autumn Festival is surrounded by both customs and myths. The most well-known myth is associated with Chang'e, known as the Chinese Moon Goddess, a symbol of Chinese people's moon worship.

A special edition of postal stamps for the 2016 Mid-Autumn Festival is named as Harmonious Full Moon Night. The upper part of the stamp displays the myth of Chang'e flying to the Moon while the bottom half depicts the occasion of moon worshiping. (Xinhua)

Meanwhile, Chinese people also celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival in more interesting and modern manners. Let's find out some funny celebrations.

Boys sit in wine jars and gobble mooncakes to woo the "Goddess of the Moon" in Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations in China's Hangzhou. (Xinhua)

This super mooncake weighs 350 kg. Residents in China's Shandong are invited to taste it for free. (Xinhua)

Lantern riddles competition is held in an elementary school in China's Anhui Province to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival. (Xinhua)