Extra lunar month gives mooncake sales a boost

Newly introduced pastries with fried bullfrogs, pickles inside are popular

There are two back-to-back months of June this year - a quirk of a leap year in the Chinese lunar calendar - bringing Shanghai its hottest summer since the city started recording weather 140 years ago. The double Junes have also propelled residents to a five-year record for the number of mooncakes consumed.

The mooncake industry - traditionally dominated by gift buyers - has experienced a 20 percent sales decline nationally each year since 2013, when the central government introduced an anti-corruption measure. That law strictly bans the use of public money to buy the pastries or other gifts considered luxuries, such as Moutai, the specialty baijiu liquor.