TAIPEI, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- Mooncakes are a must-have during the traditional Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival, not only for the people, but for pandas as well.
On Friday, staff at Taipei Zoo in Taiwan marked the festival with a special "mooncake meal" prepared for the giant pandas there.
The zoo has three pandas in total: Tuantuan, Yuanyuan and Yuanzai. Yuanzai is the baby of Tuantuan and Yuanyuan, the panda couple given as a goodwill gift to Taiwan by the Chinese mainland in 2008.
The zoo staff prepare special meals for the pandas on traditional festivals such as Dragon Boat Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival, as well as on their birthdays.
On this year's Mid-Autumn Festival, the meals included mooncakes, fruits and vegetables on skewers, as well as more conventional bamboo leaves.
"People in Taipei often have barbecues in parks during the Mid-Autumn Festival, so we prepared the fruits and vegetables on skewers just like from a barbecue to create the festival vibe," said Chao Lanhsuan, a panda keeper at the zoo.
Besides the food, Chao and her colleagues have also prepared decorations such as a round piece of ice, which was hung on the trees to represent the full moon, a symbol for the festival.
They used carrot slices to stick on the surface of the ice, creating the shape of an osmanthus tree and a rabbit, both of which exist on the moon in Chinese mythology.
At around 11:20 a.m., Yuanzai started eating its meal after taking a nap in the morning. Sitting on the ground with its legs stretched, Yuanzai grabbed a mooncake and finished it in several bites.
The meals drew large crowds in the morning, many of whom were eager to catch a glimpse of the pandas. They cheered and recorded videos of the pandas.
Lin Pota, a resident from New Taipei City, arrived over an hour earlier before the event started. He was accompanied by a dozen of his friends in T-shirts with Yuanzai's face printed on them.
"More and more people are here to see the pandas this year," said Lin, a regular visitor to panda events in the zoo.
Yuanzai and Tuantuan, the two pandas on the exhibitions Friday, sat near the glass wall and finished the special meals in about half an hour.
During the process, Lin and his friends held their cameras high and close to the glass wall in order to get a good shot of the pandas.
"Last year, I could only take the pictures of the panda's back as it faced the other direction while eating," Lin said. "This year, we were so lucky that I got some great shots."
Sarah Trites, a Canadian tourist, thought highly of the cute pandas as well as the Chinese cultural elements presented in the exhibition after finishing the tour with her friend.
"I think it's kind that they give the pandas mooncakes," said Trites. "It's a nice touch."
