Full moon and rice ball for Lantern Festival

BEIJING, Feb. 9 -- Tonight the moon is supposed to

look the biggest and brightest in all of latest 52 Lantern Festivals.

It also means good business for yuanxiao retailers.

People buy yuanxiao, rice balls with

sweet fillins at a Beijing Supermarket on Feb. 8, a day before Lantern

Festival. (Chinese media Photo)
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Eating yuanxiao, glutinous rice balls with sweet

fillings, and admiring the beauty of the full moon on Lantern Festival, the 15th

day of the first lunar month, are traditional practices. The day also marks the

end of Spring Festival.

Being white and spherical, a yuanxiao symbolizes the

full moon and family reunion. Since Wednesday hundreds of people have been

queuing up at Daoxiangcun Co's store in Andingmen before it opens at 8 a.m.

everyday.

The Beijing company has been making yuanxiao for more

than a century, and many senior citizens swear by its taste.

A 76-year-old man surnamed Zhang bought 500 g of

yuanxiao yesterday afternoon after queuing for 10 minutes. "Having yuanxiao on

Lantern Festival bodes well for the rest of the year."

This year, Daoxiangcun has made more than 2,000 tons

of yuanxiao, up 30 percent year-on-year, to meet the demand, the company said.

Even an increase in its price from 30 yuan to 36 yuan a kg has failed to deter

buyers.

Jiaozi (meat and vegetable dumpling) is a must during

Spring Festival and "so is yuanxiao on Lantern Festival", said a woman surnamed

Hao, one of the buyers at the store.

Firework vendors, too, were doing brisk business

yesterday because Lantern Festival is the last day when people can set off

fireworks and firecrackers inside the Fifth Ring Road in Beijing.

(Source: China Daily)