Asians around the world are preparing to celebrate Mid-Autumn Festival aka the chinese moon cake festival. September 14 will be the date for the 2008 festivities. The festival is popular in China, Vietnam, Korea, and other east-Asia nations.

I’ve talked about other Chinese holidays (Seven-Seven and the Dragon Boat Festival). The Mid-Autumn Festival originates from a folktale about a rabbit, an archer and his beautiful wife, immortality, and celestial bodies.

This is no simple holiday, like Christmas. There’s no man in a red suit giving you presents. It’s complicated stuff; you need Cliff’s Notes to keep the characters straight. Luckily, dear reader, you have an intrepid journalist deep in the heart of (south) China, willing to go to any length to get the skinny on this fête.

Mid-Autumn festival is the second most important Chinese Holiday (Spring Festival, or Chinese New Year being the first). It’s a time for family reunions and a celebration of the harvest.

The food of the festival is the Mooncake: Lotus seed paste wrapped in a thin pastry. Egg yolks or salted eggs are often the center of the cakes. It is a heavy delicacy, often eaten in small portions with tea.

Source: http://www.asianramblings.com/travel/china/happy-mid-autumn-festival/

Early Beginnings of the Mid-Autumn Festival

Enjoying chinese moon cake festival is an ancient tradition in China going back nearly 1,400 years. Visit any historical palace or classical garden and you will very likely find a “Moon Viewing Pavilion” or two. It is lovely to think about actually, isn’t it? Taking time with your friends and family to sit outside under a starless sky, gazing at the round white orb shining brightly from the heavens above, is something we, in this century, ought to schedule in our daytimers.

To complement the atmosphere of this event, mooncake is a dishs that fit to welcome this festival.

Festival History

While celebrating the moon during mid-autumn appears to have occurred since Zhou Dynasty (ending in 221BC ) times, it was during the Tang Dynasty (618-907) that the festival was made official. Becoming grander over time, by Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) times, the mid-autumn festival was second only in importance to the Spring Festival (Chinese New Year).

Source: http://gochina.about.com/od/eventsfestivals/p/MoonFestival.htm

You probably have a bunch of simple questions you need answers to, if you are new to designer watches. Well that is exactly what we are going to do. This should be a good enough start off point that you can feel comfortable beginning your search, however, this is not going to be a comprehensive look at everything relating to designer watches.

Basic Designer Watch Questions And Answers

The first question most people have when buying designer watches is where to purchase them. While there is no simple answer to this question there are a few guidelines you can follow. The first is to not be afraid to buy on the Internet. There are many designer watches that you can only get directly from manufacturer in the U.S. In addition, many jewelers will mark up their products a lot so you can probably get the best price online. The only downside is that there are disreputable watch dealers out there so you have to be careful. The best thing to do is ask the dealer for a serial number. If they are unwilling to provide you a serial number, then move onto someone else. If they do provide you one check it with the manufacturer to assure that it is the genuine article.

What exactly does water resistant mean is another commom question often asked? Well it means exactly what is says, the watch is resistant to water but probably will fail at any depth.  For watches that are depth rated they will specifically say to what depth they are rated. Some watches are rated in bars, as one bar equals approximately thirty three feet of depth. This just means they are water resistant when watches say they are rated to three bars. Be careful. Contact the manufacturer to be absolutely sure of what your watch is rated.

Another often asked question, what is a unidirectional bezel? Simply put this is a marker that is put into place to mark time. In general this was used to mark the time for deep sea diving, but many of the higher end watches now have them on them for more stylistic purposes. Although their practical use is somewhat diminished today, they can be used to set reminders and mark when you want to do something.

Well there you have it, a look at some of the more common designer watches questions. I recommend going directly to the watch manufacturer if you have more specific questions. If you are unable to get a hold of them or unable to find the right answer, chances are they will not be able to provide you the service level you need in the future.

Source: http://www.floweradvisor.com.sg/lifestyle/interests/watches/97/shopping_for_designer_watches/

See Also : Mooncake,  Mid autumn festival,  Chinese moon cake festival