Mooncake season is upon us! NYU Shanghai students from China and around the world share their favorite mooncake flavors and childhood memories. Find out how students plan to make this year’s Mid-Autumn Festival a special one.
Amelie Woc ’28
Hometown: Xela, Guatemala
Intended major: Computer Science or Interactive Media and Business
Favorite Mooncake: Almond mooncake (because it’s crunchy and soft!)
Growing up in the small city of Xela in Guatemala, Amelie Woc was able to get in touch with her Chinese heritage by visiting Guatemala City each Mid-Autumn Festival with her family where her father, who is from Guangdong Province, would buy mooncakes for the family. “I remember specifically cutting them up to see which ones are the almond ones, because they're my favorite ones,” she says. Woc says that her father would take her and her brother, Daniel Woc ’26 to Colonia China de Ciudad de Guatemala, a Chinese cultural organization that would organize lion dances and mooncake sales. “I felt welcomed to my Chinese side,” she says. This year, Woc plans to travel with her roommate to visit Guangdong to experience the holiday for the first time in China. “For the past 18 years, I’ve been in touch with my Chinese heritage, but only in Guatemala,” she says. “This time, it's my opportunity to be present in my culture and celebrate the festivities here.”
Zhang Cheng ’26
Hometown: Nantong, China
Major: Business and Finance
Studying at: NYU London
Favorite Mooncake: Pork（苏式鲜肉月饼）
Mid-Autumn Festival is a sentimental season for Zhang Cheng. He’s spending the holiday away from home for the first time while studying away in London. “As someone who is now distanced from my homeland, I miss my family even more during this time of year. In the UK, which is more than 9,300 kilometers away from home, only the red dots on the calendar and the scattered boxes of mooncakes in Chinese supermarkets indicate that the Mid-Autumn Festival is approaching,” Zhang says. He says he misses Shanghai where he could admire the moonlight as it hits the top of the Shanghai Tower. But he adds that the people and the feelings he associates with the holiday are enough to sustain him and make him feel like there are pieces of home even in a new place. This year, Zhang plans to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival by bringing a box of mooncakes to share with his new colleagues on the first day of his internship at Yordex. He says he feels excited and nervous for what’s to come. And even though he cannot spend the holiday at home with his family and long-time friends, he knows one thing to be true: “Today, the moonlight still flows in everyone's heart, and of course, it has not missed me here. September 17th is the Mid-Autumn Festival [wherever I am].”
Mi Vy Nguyen ’26
Major: Business
Hometown: Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Studying at: NYU New York
Favorite Mooncake: the outer layer only
Growing up in Vietnam, Mi Vy Nguyen ’26 remembers the Mid-Autumn Festival season as a time for family. “I remember us gathering together, enjoying the music, sipping tea, and feeling the excitement in the air,” she says. Her favorite part was carrying a lantern through the neighborhood with friends while the streets glowed with candlelight. “We’d make our way to the park, where we’d share mooncakes and watch the lion dance the neighborhood kids had been practicing for weeks.” Nguyen says those nights felt magical because it was just her and her close friends, reminiscing and chatting about their dreams, all while sharing a special mooncake. This year, studying away at NYU Shanghai will allow her to experience the Mid-Autumn Festival in a new setting. “I look forward to sharing mooncakes with new friends, learning how people celebrate here, and enjoying the festive atmosphere,” she says. “It feels like a chance to connect my past with the present, and I’m excited to see what new memories I’ll create during this holiday.”
Roman O’Brien ’27
Hometown: Seattle, Washington
Major: Interactive Media Arts
Favorite Mooncake: Lotus seed with salted egg yolk
Growing up in Seattle, Washington, Roman O’Brien got her first introduction to Mid-Autumn Festival through her Mandarin language teacher from Taiwan at the Chinese immersion school she attended for 9 years. “She poured us chrysanthemum tea and gave us all lotus seed flavored mooncakes, so it was the first flavor I tried, and now it’s my favorite,” she says. More recently, O’Brien tried the red bean flavor mooncake, and it has become a close second favorite of hers. “I need more now,” she jokes. As for her Mid-Autumn Festival plans this year, O’Brien said she will attend the mooncake taste-testing events on campus and is excited to explore more mooncake flavors. “I recently heard little convenience stores and 7-11 will sell them, so I want to go on a little tour and try them with my friends,” she says.
Ambra Liu ’25
Hometown: Chongqing, China
Major: Interactive Media Arts
Favorite Mooncake: Rose
Ambra Liu grew up celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival with her parents and extended family in Chongqing. She recalls cutting them into small slices so she could taste all of the different flavors of mooncakes her family received from friends and relatives. However, last year was different– Liu was studying away in Berlin, her first time celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival away in a new country. While she didn’t get to enjoy any mooncakes (she couldn’t find any in the shops), she wore a qipao to honor her heritage and took photos of the moonlight after attending a concert with friends. “The Mid Autumn Festival is a time for me to appreciate everyone in my life,” she says. “ “I can enjoy the peacefulness of enjoying the moon and the harmony in the middle of the year, and reflect on what happened during the first half of the year while also getting excited about the second half of the year.” This year, Liu says she’s looking forward to getting together with friends for a meal and exchanging moon photos with her friends who are studying away in New York City. “Even though we are in different corners of the world, we're still looking for the same moon.”
Liu Xingduo ’27
Hometown: Tsingtao, China
Major: IMA and Mathematics
Favorite Mooncake: Red bean
For Liu Xingduo ’27, the Mid-Autumn Festival is a time for him and his family to be together. When he was growing up, his family, originally from Qingdao, China, was often scattered around the world. However, each year, they made it a point to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival together by having dinner and eating mooncakes, even when they couldn’t physically be in the same place. “[When] my sister moved to the States to attend university, every Mid-Autumn Festival, my family would Zoom with [her] and share mooncakes together,” Liu says. Now, the siblings both reside in Shanghai, so their parents will come to visit to celebrate the holiday with them. “Mid-Autumn Festival is a symbol of family,” he says.