FFCCCII hosts 1st Moon Festival luncheon with media

Next to the Chinese New Year or Spring Festival or MidAutumn Festival (Zhongqiu Jie in Mandarin and “Tiong Chew Chue” in Hokkien) is the second most important festival in Chinese tradition with families and close friends gathering for reunions. In southern Fujian province of southeast China, where most ethnic Chinese in the Philippines trace their ancestral roots, a traditional dice game called “pwa tiong chew” was invented with “gepya” or mooncakes of different sizes as the prizes.

The Moon Festival is celebrated as a harvest and thanksgiving festival since ancient times on the 15th day of the 8th month of the Chinese lunar calendar with full moon at night, this usually corresponds to late September to early October in the Western Gregorian calendar with full moon at night. This year the Moon Festival will be tomorrow night. It is also celebrated worldwide, especially in Asian societies like China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia and other places.

To express gratitude and appreciation to the media for important positive role in Philippine economic and social development, the Federation of Filipino Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Inc. (FFCCCII) hosted its first ever Moon Festival luncheon for the media on Sept. 30 at its head- quarters in the seventh floor of Federation Center, Muelle de Binondo, Manila.

The FFCCCII was established in 1954 to encourage ethnic Chinese entrepreneurs nationwide not only to help inclusive and dynamic national economic growth, but also to continue the Chinese community’s centuries-old tradition of building for rural barrios and other disadvantaged communities, support the Filipino-Chinese volunteer fire brigades which assist fire and other disaster victims and assist other civic causes.

The FFCCCII is headed by president Domingo Yap and chairman emeritus Dr. Lucio Tan.