China's Lunar Lander name is Jade Rabbit. China it the third nation ever, to land a lander on the Moon. I view this as exciting news, and a bit sad it's been 35 years since the last probe to the moon.

Another View, that China may make a territorial claim on the Moon. The US and China are two nations, that did not sign a treaty on mineral rights in outer space. Will China restart the Space Race? Beijing makes a territorial claim on the moon, it will reignite the lunar rush. Glenn Reynolds USA Today

When Chiang E arrived at the moon the magic potion (in some versions a pill) was coughed up and became the jade rabbit, and since then he has worked at his pestle trying to make the potion of immortality with no success. Coloring Page of the Jade Rabbit, Chinese Moon Festival

Labels: china space, china's future, Chinese moon festival, moon

OK list, but 85 Degree C is offering Moon Cakes... It looks like you need to order them ahead of time.

Four great places to get mooncakes in Los Angeles - LA Times

My page on the Moon Festival

Labels: Chinese moon festival, making moon cakes

Nice press release on LA ChinaTown Moon Festival Celebration

A Chinatown Celebrates the 74th Annual Moon Festival Tradition in a Modern Way

Labels: Chinese moon festival

Amazing...

Angry Birds Seasons Moon Festival Update

and

iTunes App Store - Angry Birds Seasons By Rovio Mobile Ltd.

And there is Theme Park in China with an Angry Birds attraction (unlicensed).

Labels: Chinese moon festival

My friend from the Philippines, Ed  (a Chinese-Filipino), had an advanced Mid-Autumn celebration with family and friends last week-end.  In the Philippines, the Moon Festival is celebrated with the Dice Game.  The Moon Fest Dice Game is a fun game where each person throws several dice.  For every total number gotten from the throw, the person gets an equivalent prize. It is a Moon Fest custom of Cantonese origin, that is why it is not usually practiced by the Chinese-American community.

Usually, the prizes are moon cakes, chips or candy bars (but if people are tired of moon cakes, then snacks it is), little cute trinkets, etc.  Depending on the organizers of the activity, and the people who are going to play, some prizes can really be over-the-top. I've seen some blogs where the top prizes are gadgets, cash, etc.  But then again, the main purpose of the game is to have some rollicking fun with loved ones, so spending time with them is enough, the items are just a bonus.

I've been bugging Ed to share some pictures so we can see how the Moon Fest Dice Game looks like. He has been kind enough to share pictures from several years of mid-autumn celebrations.

If you are interested to do a belated game for your friends and family, we have the Moon Festival Dice Game instructions over at the ChildBook resources.

Labels: Chinese moon festival, chinese moon festival games

Labels: Chinese moon festival

This one is nice...

Kids love animals and teaching them something about Chinese culture while looking at animals is better!

Edinburgh Zoo in Scotland is giving 10 free classes for Moon Festival.  Kids can come to the zoo for a lesson about animals from China and Scotland.  After that there are some activities about the Moon Festival. Follow-up resource packs will be provided.

Only one class per school can be accommodated, but it's still a neat and generous offer.

Click for more details about the Edinburgh Zoo Moon Festival Celebration.

For teachers in the US, this is a neat idea and can be patterned as a lesson plan for future use.  What do you think?

Labels: Chinese moon festival, teaching chinese

This book has a couple of Moon related songs. New

Chinese and English Nursery Rhymes: Share and Sing in Two Languages,plus CD, Simplified/English Chinese and English Nursery Rhymes: Share and Sing in Two Languages,plus CD, Simplified/English

Labels: Chinese moon festival, chinese songs

Hello, everyone!  Moon Festival is very near (September 22 this 2010), and our teacher-friends here at ChildBook may be starting on discussing the Chinese Moon Festival in their classes.

Besides our Moon Festival lesson plan, worksheets, powerpoint and coloring pictures, the ChildBook staff have put in their favorite sites about the Moon Festival.  We wanted you to have a ready-made list of sites about this Chinese festival so that it will be easier for you to plan your lessons.

Top 10 Sites about the Moon Festival Recommended by ChildBook:


Origin of the Moon Festival. Brought to you by the San Francisco Chinatown
http://www.moonfestival.org/overview.htm#Origin

The Legendary Stories of the Chinese Moon Festival
http://www.chinesefortunecalendar.com/midfallstory.htm

Wikipedia Chinese and Vietnamese Moon Festival
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-Autumn_Festival

All about moon cakes
http://chinesefood.about.com/od/mooncake/a/moonfestival.htm

Photos of beautiful, modern moon cakes
http://www.webcooltips.com/delicous-modern-moon-cake-design-photos.html

Moon Poetry (in Chinese Characters)
http://www.chinapage.com/Moon/moon-poetry.html

Links to Poems and Prose about the Moon
http://www.cnd.org/moon/

MP3 audio of Moon Festival-related Chinese words
http://mandarin.about.com/od/festivals/a/Moon_Festival.htm

Sample class activities for the Moon Festival
http://www.everythingesl.net/lessons/harvest_festivals_around_world_79423.php

Recommended books re: Moon Festival by tjmummy of Associated Content
(Nice thing is we have 4 out of the 5 books :-)
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/394924/resources_for_lesson_plans_on_celebrating.html


Plus of course, even if I already cited 10 sites, please drop by our Chinese Moon Festival Section.

Labels: Chinese moon festival

Wow, it's September already!  That means Moon Festival is coming up.  Moon Festival 2010 will be held on September 22nd  (that's a Wednesday).

There are lots of festival celebrations happening for this special family event so as we usually do every year, we compiled a Moon Festival 2010 Calendar of Event in the US and Canada so that it's easy for you to see if there are any get-togethers in your area.

We are always looking for new announcements, but if we missed putting in a moon fest celebration in your area, please inform us at sales@childbook.com so we can add it to the calendar.

Labels: Chinese moon festival

If the living visit the dead on Qing Ming and Cheung Yeung Festivals, for Festival of Ghosts, it is believed that the spirits of the dead visit the living.

Festival of Ghost is celebrated by the Chinese around the world on the fifteenth day of the 7th lunar month.  So if we compare with the Western Calendar, that's August 24, 2010 this year. (next Tuesday)

On this day, it is believed the gates of Heaven and Hell are open to the world, so spirits can come and go here and there. People can cook special vegetarian food for their ancestors and leave them on the table set with empty seats.

In Malaysia and Singapore, a performance show is staged specially for the spirits during the Ghost Festival.  This festival is called Getai or Hotai.  These loud shows are to appease the spirits and entertain the living.  If you look for Getai or Hotai in Youtube, you will find performances in simple or fantastic costumes that will leave even the spirits goggle-eyed. 

Labels: Chinese moon festival

Great for those doing anything special for Chinese Moon Festival for their classes.

• Chinese Moon Festival Coloring Pages/Pictures
• Chinese Moon Festival Teaching Lesson Plans, Worksheets, Games, and more for use in the class room and at home!
• Chinese Moon Festival Calendar of Events for the United States and Canada

I stopped by the Moon Festival at the local mall by http://www.yesmarketinggroup.com/ as it was shutting down. May be will try again yesterday. Their web page is interesting. It took me a while to figure out how it works. Cute one you figure it out.

Labels: Chinese moon festival

ChildBook's page with the list of online stores that sell moon cakes are currently being updated.

Many people are finding it convenient to send moon cake gifts to loved ones by ordering over the internet.

However, an article in ChinaDaily also warns of the safety of mooncakes bought online. Unlike in stores where the customer can inspect the cake, one has no idea of the quality of the moon cake. It is noted that moon cakes have a short storage life. Some ingredients spoil quickly, such as the nuts and lotus paste.

I appreciate the warnings, but my 2-cents: us online retailers are very careful with our name, and our products are closely related with our brand. Even one complaint can make or break an online business. I think online food retailers also take into thoughtful consideration the time for shipping and delivery of their food products. So hopefully, these online mooncakes have been made to last a reasonable time and not harm the consumers.

As consumers, it is also better to be on-guard of food ordered online and not ingest products with questionable quality.

Please check our list of online mooncake retailers. A disclaimer though: We are not related to any of these online stores, but we are just listing it down for the convenience of ChildBook customers who are interested to order mooncakes online.

Now I'm craving for mooncake... :-)

Labels: Chinese moon festival, moon cakes

Yes, we still have Chinese Valentines and Hungry Ghosts festival, but

Chinese Moon Festival is coming up!

The Lunar Festival/ mid-autumn festival in the Chinese lunar calendar this 2009 is on October 3.

The moon festival is an important occasion for the Chinese, next to Chinese New Year.
A lot of organizations are celebrating this event. In the past years we have seen different kinds of groups celebrate. Besides Chinese-American associations there are museums, schools, restaurants, performing groups, local governments, even parks.

To help families and kids appreciate the Chinese culture more, ChildBook encourages families to participate in Chinese festivities such as the moon festival. We continually compile the different Moon Festival events across the US states and some selected places in Canada so that you can look up the moon fest activities nearest your area.

Also, some parents are already preparing this early what to do on the Moon Fest with their kids, since it's a nice time to talk about stuff all Chinese for that night. ChildBook is now having a Learn Chinese Moon Festival Sale for those who want to buy Moon-fest related activities.

So please drop by our Weekly Sale area to see the moon-fest related stories or poems you can use with your children.

Labels: Chinese moon festival, Moon Festival

Chinese Moon Festival Worksheets!

I just updated the page making it so much better!

Now there are thumbnails of each of the worksheets along with a descriptions. Chinese Moon Festival worksheets including one for matching, word search, jumbled letters, and missing letters. They are a great resource for in the classroom for a Chinese Moon Festival Unit, or for use at home!

Labels: Chinese moon festival

Dice Game for Moon Festival

Materials You will need:

6 pieces dice, preferably numbers 1 and 4 in red, other numbers in black

Wide-mouthed bowl
Prizes, prizes, prizes. You still have time to solicit…
Assortment of quietly smiling, or rambunctious, or dancing family members and friends on Moon Festival night. Grandma, Grandpa and little cousins included

Object of the Game:
To get as much prizes by throwing the dice and getting prescribed number combinations.

Procedure:
Preparations before Moon Festival:

1. Look for a wide mouthed bowl.
2. Prepare 6 dice with number 1 and 4 in red. If you can only find dice with only the number 1 in red, improvise for number 4.
3. Solicit for prizes among family.
4. Prepare the following prizes

* 32 pcs 6th place prizes
* 16 pcs 5th place prizes
* 8 pcs 4th places prizes
* 4 pcs 3rd place prizes
* 2 pcs 2nd place prizes
* 1 pc 1st place prize

Value of prizes may vary. May be simple or extravagant. Others raffle off moon cake, candies, gadgets, ChildBook gift certificates (ehem:-) … Be creative.
Game Proper on Moon Festival night:

5. Place wide-mouthed bowl on a table. Gather everybody around the table. Appoint the first player.
6. First player throws all 6 dice into the bowl. Take note of the numbers face-up on the dice.
7. Certain combination of numbers on the dice entitles the player to a prize. See combinations and corresponding prizes below.
8. Pass the bowl to the next person. S/he will also throw the dice and get a prize if certain number combinations land face up on the dice. Etc. etc. until all the prizes run out.

Special rules:

* If any of the dice fall outside the bowl, you lose your turn for that round.
* If all the prizes for a given configuration have run out, then future appearances of that configuration win no further prizes.
* "Ultimate throw" – The best combination is composed of either 6 fours, or 6 ones. If you get this combination, you will ALL prizes, even those already won. Some families just give the 1st prize to ensure everybody gets to take home a prize.
* Other rules you can make up as you go along as long as it is fair and everybody gets to have fun.

Dice combinations and corresponding prizes:

The game is actually primarily based on occurrences of the "4" value -- the more fours you roll, the better the prize.

Sixth-place prizes - Awarded to people who roll 1 four

Fifth-place prizes - Awarded to people who roll 2 fours:

Fourth-place prizes - Awarded to people who roll 3 fours:

Third-place prizes - Awarded to people who roll 4 of any number except four:

Second-place prizes - Awarded to people who roll either a full sequence of all six numbers, or 3 of one number and 3 of another:

And finally, the first-place prize (zhungyuan) is given to the lucky soul who manages to roll four fours, five of any single number, or better:

Have fun and good fortune on Moon Festival! Gift your child Chinese Moon Festival books, coloring pages and help them learn more about moon festival through different resources available at childbook.com.

Source: “Of Dice and Moon Cakes” by Sean - http://lengthofwords.blogspot.com/2006/10/of-dice-and-mooncakes.html

Labels: Chinese moon festival, Moon Festival, moon festival books, moon festival dice game, moon festival events, moon festival for kids, moon festival games

Moon Cakes being made for Chinese Moon Festival:

Watch this video and learn to make moon cakes at home. This moon festival you make your own moon cakes and enjoy eating your moon cakes with your family. Kids can have fun on moon festival with different resources available about chinese moon festival at Childbook.com at this page http://www.childbook.com/Moon-Festival-s/94.htm



Other Moon Festival Resources:

Other Moon Festival Resources:

• Chinese Moon Festival Calendar of Events for the United States and Canada
• Chinese Moon Festival Books and Stories
• Moon Cakes - Where to Buy/Purchase
• Chinese Moon Festival Coloring Pages/Pictures
• Chinese Moon Festival Background

Labels: Chinese moon festival, making moon cakes, moon cake for kids, moon cake video, moon cakes

Updated - Chinese Moon Festival Calendar of Events for the United States and Canada
Added more pictures - Chinese Moon Festival Coloring Pages/Pictures
Redid the entire page - Chinese Moon Festival Coloring Pages/Pictures
New - Chinese Moon Festival Word Scramble
Redone - Chinese Moon Festival Match A Word

Labels: Chinese moon festival

Did you know there is a game traditionally played during the Moon Festival? ChildBook now has instructions.



Would you like to do a Word Search Game? ChildBook now has one!



More coming soon...

Labels: Chinese moon festival

Moon Festival section has been updated, including a new section of Chinese Moon Festival Coloring Pictures. I copied them from Coloring Pages & Pictures of Chinese Kids, Animals, Festivals, etc. I also updated the section about the Chinese Moon Festival Background. A confusing part was the differences in the legends of the Moon Maiden. The Chinese Moon Festival Calendar of Events for the United States and Canada has also been updated. The section is an improvement from last year when I created it, and every year it's getting better and better.

Labels: Chinese moon festival, moon festival for kids, moon festival in china, moon festival poems, moon festival stories