Mid-Autumn Festival doubly special this year

Mid-Autumn Festival this year falls on Oct 1. In a recent survey conducted by China Youth Daily, 92.9 percent of all the 1,018 respondents said they will go home for a family reunion to celebrate it.

Since the full moon symbolizes a family staying together, the Mid-Autumn Festival is traditionally associated with family reunions.

To celebrate, families will usually enjoy a dinner together and eat mooncakes, which are given as gifts to contain people's best wishes for family reunions.

To go home to celebrate the festival is a way of honoring our traditional culture and observing traditions that have lasted for centuries.

This year's Mid-Autumn Festival is special in two aspects. First, it falls on Oct 1, which is also the day that marks the anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949. As a result, it falls at the start of the week-long National Day holiday, so people can have more time to go home.

Also during the struggle against the novel coronavirus in the first few months of the year, many people had to cancel their New Year travel plans. Now with the epidemic generally under control in China and travel restrictions lifted in many regions, people are willing and able to travel again.

For elderly parents who miss their adult children working elsewhere, this is especially good news. Many young people say that their parents always want them to go home during festivals.

However far one goes away from home, the bonds of love bind families together.

We wish everyone happy Mid-Autumn Festival.