Before the annual Mid-Autumn Festival, which falls this year on September 14, traffic in Beijing gets even worse than usual. The reason, it is believed, is that the roads are crammed with cars rushing out of town for the long weekend - or zipping to the post office to ship ubiquitous gift boxes of "mooncakes," a traditional holiday food.
The festival originated during the Tang Dynasty (618-907), when Chinese emperors offered sacrifices to the Moon God on the 15th day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar. But the tradition of eating mooncakes - round baked goods with sweet and savory stuffings - came later, during the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368).
Today the festival is celebrated as a time for family reunions, when relatives and friends observe the moon, drink wine or tea, and eat the delicious small cakes that resemble the moon in shape.
Even after several centuries, Chinese chefs are still innovating.
There are myriad styles of mooncakes, with local varieties named for Beijing, Suzhou and Cantonese recipes. Most traditional stuffings include such ingredients as mashed jujubes, mashed red beans, lotus paste, preserved egg yolks, nuts and fruits.
Today, however, the range of mooncake recipes is as endless as the channels on satellite TV.
Some popular modern flavors include chocolate, cranberry and beef and black pepper stuffings.
Foreign firms with branches in China are even getting in on the act. Starbucks produces mooncakes with 10 different stuffing flavors, including Columbian coffee with hazelnut, Kenyan coffee with California orange zest, and Earl Grey tea with lemon taste.
Haagen-Daz also makes mooncakes, which are really chocolate-shelled ice-cream cakes, with colorful stripes on top.
Another twist on the traditional mooncake is available at Quan Ju De, a Beijing restaurant chain famous for its Peking Roast Duck. The recipe includes duck inside the mooncake, as well as duck liver with pinenut stuffing.
Some of the city's classiest five-star hotels now prepare mooncakes with really luxurious ingredients, including shark fin, abalone, and even Wuliangye, a top Chinese liquor.
Of course, mooncakes don't have to be expensive to taste good. For example, Xi Bei You Mian Cun, an Inner Mongolian restaurant in Beijing, makes mooncakes in the traditional Mongolian style, with coarse grains and a variety of stuffings - including chick-peas with millet, cheese with cherry tomatoes, and jujubes with pinenuts. They come in gift containers made of paper, grass and bamboo.
With a nod to modern concerns, some producers have also tried to make "healthy" versions of the traditional food. Such mooncakes feature stuffings made from pumpkin, Chinese yam, corn, sweet potato, and even water chestnuts.
This year, it should be easy to find a mooncake to suit all tastes. With this tasty treat, and a cup of Chinese tea or wine, you can observe the full moon and celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival in style.
Local recommendations:
Xi Bei You Mian Cun 西贝莜面村: 11am-10pm. 100 meters to the east of north gate, Sunshine Plaza, Asian Games Village. 6498-4455.亚运村东方广场北门东侧100米
Quan Ju De Roast Duck: Hepingmen branch: 11am-2:30pm, 4:30-9pm. Bldg 14, Qianmen Xidajie, Xuanwu District. 6302-3062.宣武区前门西大街14号楼; Asian Games Village: Bldg 1-3, A Block, 309 Huizhong Beili, Chaoyang District. 6480-1686.朝阳区惠中北里309号天创世缘A座1-3楼
Starbucks 星巴克
Friendship Store 7am-10pm. 1/F Friendship Store, 17 Jianguomenwai Dajie. 6586-4796. 建国门外大街17号友谊商店一层; Shin Kong Place Store7am-11pm. 1/F Shin Kong Place, 6 Xidawang Lu. 6533-1324. 西大望路6号星空天地1层; The Place Store: 7am-10pm. L123 of Bldg A, The Place Shopping Mall, 9 Guanghua Road, Chaoyang District. 6587-1579. 朝阳区光华路9号 The Place; Jianwai SOHO Store: 7:30am-11pm. Villa 5-01, Jianwai SOHO, 39, East Third Ring Road, Chaoyang District. 5869-0273. 朝阳区东三环39号建外SOHO 5-01
Haagen-Dazs哈根达斯
Oriental Plaza Store: A102 Oriental Plaza, 1 Dong Chang'an Jie. 8518-6071. 东长安街1号东方新天地1层A102; Sun Dong An store: 1F Sun Dong An, 138 Wangfujing Dajie. 6559-6277. 王府井大街138号新东安市场1层; St. Regis Store: Room 196, 1F St. Regis Hotel, 21 Jianguomenwai Dajie. 6532-6661. 建国门外大街21号国际俱乐部1层196室; Word Trade Center store: L125, West Building of the World Trade Centre, 1 Jianguomenwai Dajie. 6505-6527. 建国门外大街1号国贸西楼L125