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BEIJING, Sept. 23 (Xinhuanet) -- As the traditional Mid-Autumn festival draws near, people in Shanghai are buying the one important festival food —mooncakes.
At 11 a.m. people had been waiting for hours in this ten-meter long line in front of a restaurant on Huaihai Road. Because the restaurant is one of the most famous mooncake shops in Shanghai. The long line is not something new—customers started lining up each day two weeks ago and will probably continue even a week after the Mid-Autumn Festival is over.
It is easier, of course, if you bring your own chair. And it is always nice to chat while you watch the fresh mooncakes fry. Unlike mooncakes with sweet stuffing, the mooncakes are in the traditional salty Shanghai-style, stuffed with pork. The restaurant manager said that to bake one mooncake takes 20 minutes, and they can only make 900 every hour. Each customer's purchase is limited to 60 at a time. Do the math, and it works out that each hour there will only be 15 happy customers. But even if you are prepared to wait in line for hours, you still may not get your mooncakes.
"Today we closed the line at 8:30 in the morning. We count how many people are waiting in the line before 8:30 and then decide when to stop the line. We do this to make sure everyone lining up can get mooncakes. But even though they get to stay in line, they may still have to wait until five or six in the afternoon to buy their mooncakes," said Jin Dingwen, lobby manager, Guangmingcun restaurant.
"So far sales have grown about 10 percent. This year the group purchase from companies and labor unions have fallen off, so more and more people are buying on their own. We estimate during the four days before the Mid-Autumn Festival we will be selling some 80,000 every day. Mooncake sales will account for more than half our total revenue during the last two weeks of the festival," said Liu Chongliang, vice manager, Wangjiasha restaurant.
More and more restaurants and food companies are making their own mooncakes to keep up with the crush. Media reports show that during last year's holiday season, Shanghai people bought more than 2 million fresh mooncakes. Estimates are that the number will grow by another 10 percent this year.
(Source: CNTV.cn)
