“Hong Kong People”, “Let’s Fight Together" and "Be Water" are the messages seen on mooncakes on display at a bakery at Wah Yee Tang. The sweets usually savoured during the Chinese harvest festival. But now, they feature pro-democracy messages.
The protests have been trying to promote pro-democracy messages and now, the mooncakes impart them.
Bakery owner Naomi Suen hopes the cakes will bring about positivity during a time of political unrest.
Suen's mooncakes carry messages including "No withdrawal, no dispersal". "Be water," refers to the protesters' philosophy, inspired by martial arts star Bruce Lee, of taking a fluid approach to their demonstrations.
Known for being dense, the cakes are usually filled with lotus seed or red bean paste and a salted egg yolk symbolizing the moon.
Suen hopes hers can "make Hong Kong people happy again." Customer Sandy Lam said the cakes "represent our voices" and reflect the "actual situation" for protesters.
According to legend, mooncakes were used by Ming revolutionaries to smuggle secret messages tucked inside while fighting Mongol rulers during the Yuan dynasty. The cakes are traditionally served during the Mid-Autumn Festival when the moon is at its roundest and brightest and families gather to pray for bountiful harvests.
Demonstrators have taken to the streets since the last 11 weeks as part of a protest movement that began with the demand to scrap extradition legislation that could have seen criminal suspects sent to China. It has now snowballed into one that calls for full democracy and inquiry into police violence against protesters.
