This is Randi Hacker with another Postcard from Asia from the KU Center for East Asian Studies.

China’s Mid-Autumn Festival falls on September 19th this year. This holiday is celebrated by reciting poetry to the full moon and eating moon cakes. Moon cakes feature an elaborately stamped pastry shell that can be filled with a variety of things: red bean paste or five different kinds of ground nuts, or lotus seed paste or salted duck egg yolk. Their roundness symbolizes the moon. Everyone, from peasant to government official gives them as gifts and, apparently, up until this year, government officials have used public funds to buy their moon cakes. This year, President Xi Jinping has made cracking down on excess the centerpiece of his administration and buying moon cakes with public funds, well, it just won’t stand. Cutting back on unnecessary expenditures is always difficult but compared to, Sarah Palin’s $150,000 wardrobe and John Edwards’ $400 haircuts (remember those?), this is a (moon) cakewalk.

From the KU Center for East Asian Studies, this is Randi Hacker. Wish you were here.