The autumn wind brings coolness, and the moon gradually becomes fuller and rounder from the first quarter, indicating reunion. There are different opinions on the origin of the Mid-Autumn Festival. Some people say it is the festival for worshiping the moon, which means that in ancient times, people expressed respect for the moon god. Some people also say that worships the earth god , because the 15th day of the eighth lunar month happens to be a good season for the autumn harvest.
No matter where the Mid-Autumn Festival comes from, its customs are similar in various places. It’s nothing more than eating mooncakes, admiring the moon, and sipping tea. The most important thing among them is moon cakes. Tea is just to relieve the greasy feeling of salty and sweet moon cakes . The author came to to explore mooncake packaging based on his love for Mid-Autumn Festival folk culture.
1. The origin and production of mooncakes
Last time I went home, I accidentally saw a mooncake that I only had when I was a child. It was a big plate, round, not too decorated, with a layer of sesame seeds on top, and the fillings inside were said to be Five kernels, pumpkin seeds, peanuts, black and white sesame seeds , I don’t know what kind of sugar is in the rock sugar, but it has a unique taste when mixed together. Nowadays, most of the mooncakes that people eat are small boxed mooncakes that are beautifully packaged and beautifully made.
But I have always preferred the big disk-like mooncakes. It is still very beautiful for the family to share such mooncakes on an autumn night when crickets are chirping, rather than everyone playing with their mobile phones with their own small mooncakes. By chance, I learned that the original disc mooncake is indeed very original. It can be said that he is the veteran of the moon cake industry. Speaking of this, the folklore is that moon cakes were not called moon cakes before, but were called Hu cakes .
was introduced by Zhang Qian on his mission to the Western Regions, so Hu cakes were later named because Yang Guifei felt that Hu cakes were too ugly and rough when tasting them. She looked at the moon and called out moon cakes, hence the name of moon cakes. At that time, the making of mooncakes was much the same as today. Ancient people also had special molds. They put various fillings and crusts into the molds and pressed them into shape.
Chinese culture has been passed down for so long, and much of it has been lost. However, the Mid-Autumn Festival is the second largest traditional festival in my country. The making of key snacks and mooncakes has been passed down for thousands of years and has not been lost, which shows that it is loved by the people. Our country has a vast territory, and the customs, cultures, and eating habits of different regions are also different. The eight famous cuisines include Shandong cuisine , Sichuan cuisine, Cantonese cuisine , Fujian cuisine , Jiangsu cuisine , Zhejiang cuisine , Hunan cuisine, Anhui cuisine .
The same goes for mooncakes. According to different eating habits and cuisines in different places, the classification is roughly the same. There are Cantonese style, Beijing style, Soviet style, Chaozhou style, Yunnan style and so on. As for why there is no Sichuan style, the author thinks that if mooncakes can be made To make it spicy, Sichuan style is not necessarily a bad choice. After many years, I look forward to the Mid-Autumn Festival every year as much as the Spring Festival. I have eaten many mooncakes with various patterns on them.
The most common ones include the twelve zodiac signs, auspicious flowers and plants, and other patterns that symbolize good fortune, and they are basically equipped with expressions such as "Fu", "Lu", "Fruit", "Family Reunion", "Mid-Autumn Festival" etc. The words of a beautiful vision.
2. The development history of mooncake packaging
Ancient China’s batch manufacturing technology may be slightly behind compared to modern times, but it also pays attention to elegance and practicality. These can be verified from museums. What’s more, people today cannot make what ancient times could. s things. The essence of the wisdom of working people is to use limited resources to make the best things. The same goes for mooncake packaging boxes. It seems inappropriate to call ancient mooncake serving utensils as packaging. It is just a food box .
Food boxes are mostly made of relatively durable materials, such as bamboo, enamel, lacquer, etc. , with hard wood being the main one. Food boxes made of such materials can be passed down for generations if they are preserved a little better. Of course, the production process of food boxes is not that simple. The material selection is exquisite, and there are also cumbersome processes such as carving and decoration. The food box is a box for holding food. It can be seen that it is not only used to hold mooncakes, but it can also be regarded as the prototype of mooncake packaging.
It is said that Chinese people have a good reputation, especially when it comes to giving gifts. This can also be regarded as the cultural inheritance of China as a country of etiquette.At first, people cared about giving gifts, and they were very particular about what to give and when to give them. The main purpose is to express good wishes to the recipient, and the smaller part is to satisfy interpersonal communication.
Therefore, in today's rapid development, people's material requirements no longer stop at this level. After having enough food and clothing, they think about refinement. If you have doubts, you can open various social software and you can see everyone's life, no matter what Poverty or wealth are all moving towards a refined life. Of course, mooncake manufacturers are also eyeing this business opportunity. businessmen are always the smartest and most sensitive . They can create all benefits according to consumers' preferences.
At first, mooncake manufacturers only made tentative efforts in the market to produce mooncake gift boxes with exquisite packaging that could be called luxury. In this way, the price of a box of mooncakes can even reach thousands or even tens of thousands, and the cost is at most one-tenth. Since someone is willing to pay for this packaging, aside from its extravagance and waste, the mooncake packaging is actually very exquisite.
Of course, merchants will make different packaging according to different consumer groups. For example, the tastes of the elderly and young people are definitely different, so the company will naturally design according to their different tastes to achieve the purpose of promoting . For example, a large number of packaging boxes designed for white-collar women generally contain the most popular colors and elements at the moment. By arranging and combining them, consumers can find as many attractive packages as they want.
This gift box mooncake symbolizes white-collar women's understanding of modern urban life and their concentration on self-cultivation. Some time ago, a cosmetic product called the Forbidden City Series Lipstick received enthusiastic support from people. Its design concept is the collision of traditional culture and modern elements. The same goes for the packaging design of mooncakes. It should not only take into account traditional culture, but also add modern elements to attract people's attention.
3. Summary
From the origin of mooncakes to the packaging of mooncakes, people have not reduced their enthusiasm for cultural inheritance for thousands of years. From the development trends of various well-known mooncake manufacturers, we can know that if they want to continue to be popular in this industry, they must meet the aesthetic needs of modern major consumer groups. On the other hand, the packaging design of mooncakes actually depends on consumers. .
Consumers love traditional culture , but are keen on modern elements . How merchants can organically combine the two is the key to the success of mooncake packaging design and the key to winning over consumers. It is worth noting that today, when advocates green and environmentally friendly , businesses' understanding of green should not only stop at using healthy materials for green packaging, but also recognize and conserve green. The long-term development plan is to be able to speak green, combine traditional and modern elements, and reduce the over-manufacturing of mooncake boxes.
Reference:
"Chinese Mooncakes"
