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50 free Mid-Autumn Festival trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Aug 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 50 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 of the 8th month
That is when the moon is believed to be at its fullest and brightest, in the middle of the harvest season.
Q 02Between which Gregorian dates can the festival fall?
7 September and 8 October
It always sits near the autumn equinox.
Q 03Where does the goddess Chang'e live, according to the legend behind the festival?
In the Moon Palace
She is the Moon Goddess of Immortality and shares her home with a rabbit.
Q 04What does the round shape of a mooncake symbolise?
Completeness and reunion
The senior member of a household traditionally cuts the cake and shares a piece with each relative.
Q 05What are mooncakes typically filled with?
Sweet bean or lotus-seed paste
Whole salted duck-egg yolks are often set in the centre.
Q 06What does the salted egg yolk in the middle of a mooncake represent?
The full moon
Some cakes contain several yolks; the crust is only 2 to 3 mm thick.
Q 07Which regional style of mooncake is described as the most famous?
Cantonese
It is about 10 cm across, 3-4 cm thick and usually filled with lotus seed paste.
Q 08Since which dynasty have the Chinese held harvest celebrations at the autumn moon?
Shang
The term mid-autumn first appears in a Western Zhou ritual text.
Q 09In which text did the term 'mid-autumn' first appear?
Rites of Zhou
The Western Zhou court dedicated the rite to the goddess Taiyinxingjun.
Q 10Under which dynasty did the celebration first gain popularity as a festival?
The Tang
Legend says Emperor Xuanzong held formal palace celebrations after exploring the Moon Palace.
Q 11Which Empress Dowager staged five days of elaborate Mid-Autumn rituals?
Cixi
By the Ming and Qing dynasties the festival was one of China's main folk festivals.
Q 12How many suns did the archer Hou Yi shoot down in the legend?
Nine
Ten suns had risen at once and scorched the earth; he left one to give light.
Q 13What did Chang'e swallow before flying to the moon?
The elixir of immortality
In one version she takes it to stop a thieving apprentice; in another to stop her tyrant husband.
Which apprentice tried to force Chang'e to hand over the elixir while Yi was hunting?
Q 21Before which dynasty were lanterns not used in connection with moon worship?
Tang
Lanterns traditionally symbolised fertility and served mainly as toys and decoration.
Q 22How many mooncakes are piled up in one tradition to mimic a pagoda?
13
The number matches the months in a full Chinese lunisolar leap year.
Q 23Which emperor, given cakes by a Turpan merchant, joked about inviting the moon toad to eat one?
Taizong
The hú cakes he shared with his ministers are said to have become mooncakes.
Q 24The mooncake's popularity and link to the festival date from which era?
Peng Meng
She refused, swallowed it and chose the moon so she could stay near her husband.
Q 15What was Chang'e's original name, changed to avoid a Han emperor's name taboo?
Heng'e
Emperor Liu Heng's name could not be shared; she first appears in the Zhou-era Guicang.
Q 16What is the moon rabbit shown doing in East Asian myth?
Pounding with a mortar and pestle
Chinese versions have it pounding the elixir of life; Japanese and Korean ones, rice cakes.
Q 17What offerings were traditionally made to the moon rabbit's clay statue on the festival table?
Soy beans and cockscomb flowers
The statue is among the first decorations bought for the table.
Q 18Which 'Chinese Sisyphus' endlessly chops a self-healing osmanthus tree on the moon?
Wu Gang
'Wu Gang chopping the tree' is a proverb for endless toil.
Q 19What is the traditional 'reunion' drink of the festival, tied to a tree's blossom time?
Cassia wine
Osmanthus cakes and osmanthus mooncakes are eaten in some regions too.
Q 20What do people write on lanterns for others to solve during the festival?
Riddles
The custom is called deng mi, or lantern riddles.
The Song
The Turpan-merchant legend explains the origin, but the tradition took hold later.
Q 25Against which rulers were secret mooncake messages said to have coordinated an uprising?
The Mongols of the Yuan
Only one in ten Han households was allowed a knife, so a coordinated rising was vital.
Q 26Which future Ming founder and his adviser are credited with the message-in-a-cake plot?
Zhu Yuanzhang and Liu Bowen
They spread a rumour that only special mooncakes could ward off a deadly plague.
Q 27What dice game do families in Xiamen play at the festival?
Bo Bing
Six dice are rolled in a ceramic bowl and the number of fours decides the prize.
Q 28Which day is the public holiday in Hong Kong and Macau?
The day after the festival
So many events happen at night that the following day is the day off.
Q 29What do Taiwanese children wear on their heads to catch the moon goddess's eye?
Hats of pomelo rind
The pomelo is said to be her favourite fruit.
Q 30What has become the popular way to celebrate the festival in Taiwan?
Outdoor barbecues
Friends and family gather to grill together, a custom that took off in recent decades.