The general view in academic circles is that the Mid-Autumn Festival was formed in the Tang and Song Dynasties and flourished in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. However, from the Song Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty, although there are many records about the Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations, such as Wu Zimu's "Dream" in the Song Dynasty "Liang Lu" "Princes and grandsons, rich families and wealthy families, all climb dangerous towers, play in the moonlight in the pavilion, or climb the pavilions, arrange banquets, play harp and harp, drink wine and sing, to predict the joy of the evening."
Another example is Mingtian Rucheng's "Remnants of a West Lake Tour", "Take a boat on the lake and travel along the lake to see the dawn", "On the Su Embankment, join hands in singing", etc. The Mid-Autumn Festival in these descriptions is more like an entertainment and entertainment activity for dignitaries and citizens, rather than a folk festival in the traditional sense.
Extended information
As for the origin of the Mid-Autumn Festival, we should talk about it from two perspectives, one is official and the other is folk. Officially speaking, the Mid-Autumn Festival began to become a national festival after the Revolution of 1911.
After the Revolution of 1911, the government of the Republic of China changed the lunar calendar to the Gregorian calendar and made adjustments to traditional festivals, moving the traditional Lunar New Year's Day (the first day of the first lunar month, now the Spring Festival) to January 1 of the Gregorian calendar. New Year. Then the four festivals of spring, summer, autumn and winter were formulated in sequence, that is, the original New Year's Day on the first day of the first lunar month was renamed as the Spring Festival, the Dragon Boat Festival was renamed as the Summer Festival, the 15th of August was renamed as the Autumn Festival, and the Winter Solstice was renamed as the Winter Festival.
This means that since the Republic of China, the Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Autumn Festival, has become a festival celebrated by the whole country. From a folk perspective, although the Mid-Autumn Festival is not as long-standing and mature as other festivals, it has distinctive local characteristics and is marked by rituals and beliefs.
People's Daily Online-Discussing the Origin of the Mid-Autumn Festival