Mid-Autumn Festival Trivia
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46 free Mid-Autumn Festival trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Sep 2026.
The Mid-Autumn Festival is the night East Asia stops to look at the moon, share a mooncake and think about everyone who is far from home. This quiz covers the festival from Shang-dynasty harvest rites to lunar rovers named after a rabbit. The easy questions ask what date it falls on, which goddess lives on the moon, what a mooncake is filled with, why the shape is round and what children carry through the streets. From there it moves into the legends: Hou Yi shooting down nine suns, the elixir Chang'e swallowed, the rabbit pounding in its mortar, Wu Gang and his self-healing osmanthus tree, and the Tang emperor said to have visited the Moon Palace. The harder end is for people who have eaten more than one mooncake: the Rites of Zhou, Empress Dowager Cixi's five days of rituals, the hú cakes of Emperor Taizong, the messages baked into cakes before the Ming uprising, the 13-mooncake pagoda, Bo Bing dice in Xiamen, pomelo-rind hats in Taiwan, the Tai Hang fire dragon and its plague legend, the Ghost Festival lanterns of Hong Kong fishermen, songpyeon steamed on pine needles, susuki grass at Tsukimi, Uncle Cuội's banyan tree, the Apollo 11 mention of Chang'e and the far-side landing of Chang'e 4. Every answer was checked against encyclopaedia entries on the festival, its foods and its myths, and the supporting sentence is stored with each question. If you enjoy this one, try our Chinese New Year, Diwali and world festivals quizzes next.
30 of 46 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01On which day of the Chinese lunisolar calendar does the Mid-Autumn Festival fall?
15th day, 8th month
15th day, 8th month marks the middle of autumn on the lunar calendar, which is how the Mid-Autumn Festival got its name.
Q 02In some years, China's Mid-Autumn holiday merges with which other public holiday into an eight-day break?
National Day
National Day, on 1 October, can land beside the festival, and the merged eight-day holiday brings some of China's heaviest travel of the year.
Q 03In the legend behind the Mid-Autumn Festival, where does the goddess Chang'e live?
In the Moon Palace
In the Moon Palace: in the most popular telling, Chang'e chose the moon so she could live near her husband on earth.
Q 04What does the round shape of a mooncake symbolise?
Completeness and reunion
Completeness and reunion are why the eldest in some households cut one mooncake into pieces, one for each family member.
Q 05What are mooncakes typically filled with?
Sweet bean or lotus-seed paste
Sweet bean or lotus-seed paste makes mooncakes so dense and sweet that they are usually cut into small wedges and eaten with tea.
Q 06What does the salted egg yolk in the middle of a mooncake represent?
The full moon
The full moon is the image because on this night the moon is believed to be at its fullest and brightest.
Q 07Which regional style of mooncake is known for a thin crust around a large, rich filling?
Cantonese
Cantonese mooncakes have a crust only 2–3 mm thick, and giving mooncakes to clients has fuelled a market for luxury versions.
Q 08Ancient Chinese emperors held moon rites in autumn; which did they honour with rites in spring?
The Sun
The Sun got the spring rites, and the autumn moon rites that nobles and scholars later copied grew into the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Q 09Which of China's Four Beauties was said to be so lovely that the moon hid in shame?
Diaochan
Diaochan, in the legend, helps her master Wang Yun bring down the tyrant Dong Zhuo in Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
Q 10In the legend behind the Mid-Autumn Festival, which archer shot down nine of the ten suns?
Hou Yi
Hou Yi shot them down because the ten suns had risen together and were scorching the earth.
Q 11What did Chang'e swallow before flying to the moon?
The elixir of immortality
The elixir of immortality was a gift from the gods; in one telling Chang'e swallowed it to keep it from a thief, in another to stop a cruel husband.
Q 12In the Mid-Autumn legend, which apprentice broke in to rob Chang'e while her husband was out hunting?
Peng Meng
Peng Meng, also romanised Feng Meng, forced his way in with a sword, but Chang'e swallowed the prize herself rather than hand it over.
Q 13Which non-baked mooncake with a glutinous-rice crust was created in Hong Kong?
Snow skin mooncake
Snow skin mooncakes skip the oven, which is why their soft, translucent crust has to be kept in the refrigerator.
Q 21Which Tang emperor, legend says, received round 'hu cakes' after a victory, starting the custom that became mooncakes?
Taizong
Taizong, known personally as Li Shimin, shared the hu cakes with his court, and eating them on that day spread until they became mooncakes.
Q 22In some Chinese and Taiwanese customs, who traditionally leads the Mid-Autumn moon worship?
Women
Women lead the moon rites, following an old saying that men do not worship the moon and women do not sacrifice to the kitchen god.
Q 23Against which rulers were secret mooncake messages said to have coordinated an uprising?
The Mongols of the Yuan
Q 14What is the moon rabbit shown doing in East Asian myth?
Pounding with a mortar and pestle
Pounding with a mortar and pestle is the rabbit's job everywhere, though it mashes herbs in Chinese tellings and rice cakes in Japanese and Korean ones.
Q 15Which poet wrote 'Shuidiao Getou', one of the most famous Mid-Autumn poems?
Su Shi
Su Shi wrote it one Mid-Autumn night after drinking until dawn, while missing his younger brother, Su Zhe.
Q 16Which 'Chinese Sisyphus' endlessly chops a self-healing osmanthus tree on the moon?
Wu Gang
Wu Gang, in one telling, was banished to the moon for a misdeed, and the tree heals after every blow, so his punishment never ends.
Q 17Which wine, tied to a tree's blossom time, is traditionally drunk at the Mid-Autumn Festival?
Cassia wine
Cassia wine is flavoured with osmanthus, and families eat osmanthus cakes alongside it at the festival.
Q 18What do people write on lanterns for others to solve during the festival?
Riddles
The custom is called deng mi, or lantern riddles.
Q 19In Chinese tradition, the Mid-Autumn moon was a favoured time for which life event?
Celebrating marriages
Celebrating marriages suited the festival, and in parts of China dances were held so young people could find partners.
Q 20Which lake, home of the 'Three Pools Mirroring the Moon', is a famed Mid-Autumn moon-viewing spot?
West Lake
West Lake's three small stone pagodas hold candles that shine on the lake like extra moons, a scene printed on Chinese money.
The Mongols of the Yuan were the target: rebels hid the date of the revolt inside mooncakes handed out only to Han families.
Q 24Which future Ming founder and his adviser are credited with the message-in-a-cake plot?
Zhu Yuanzhang and Liu Bowen
Zhu Yuanzhang and Liu Bowen spread a rumour that only special mooncakes could ward off a deadly disease, so the cakes carrying their plan spread fast.
Q 25What dice game do families in Xiamen play at the Mid-Autumn Festival?
Bo Bing
Bo Bing players take turns rolling six dice in a bowl, and the combinations decide which mooncake prizes they win.
Q 26For the Mid-Autumn Festival, which day do Hong Kong and Macau give as a public holiday?
The day after
The day after is the holiday in Hong Kong and Macau, while mainland China and Taiwan take the festival day itself off.
Q 27What do Taiwanese children wear on their heads to catch the moon goddess's eye?
Hats of pomelo rind
Hats of pomelo rind are worn for luck, in the belief that Chang'e will notice the children and grant them good fortune.
Q 28What has become a popular way to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival in Taiwan?
Outdoor barbecues
Outdoor barbecues are a recent fashion that has become a Taiwan Mid-Autumn staple, with families grilling in streets, parks and by rivers.
Q 29Which Hong Kong neighbourhood stages a three-night fire dragon dance at Mid-Autumn?
Tai Hang
Tai Hang's dragon is stuck with burning incense sticks, and hundreds of performers take turns carrying it through the streets.
Q 30What happens to the Hong Kong fire dragon after the ritual?
It is thrown into the sea
It is thrown into the sea with lanterns and paper cards, so the dragon returns to the water and carries misfortune away.