BEIJING - With the first mid-autumn festival holiday nearly upon China, many people are asking 'what is it for?'

Pupils of No 4 Primary School of Nanyang, Henan province, show off the mooncakes made by themselves at the city's Dashifu bakery on Tuesday. The school organized the activity for students to learn about the traditions of the Mid-autumn Festival. [Asianewsphoto]

An online survey by the website Sohu.com saw 55.7 percent of the 1,313 respondents saying they would spend the holiday with their families. The festival, similar to the Spring Festival or the dragon boat festival, has been a time for family reunion since ancient China.

Li Kang, from Pingxiang City of eastern Jiangxi Province, never celebrated the festival with his family during his college years. Work pressure after graduation made him ignore the get-together moment.

But this weekend, Li would celebrate the mid-autumn festival with his parents in his hometown. The three days off, including this weekend, allowed him to go home.

Li said the Sichuan earthquake in May made him think that leading a safe and simple life with the family was the key to happiness.

"We plan to have a family dinner and appreciate the moon while eating mooncakes," he said.

The Ministry of Railways has predicted a travel surge around the weekend as the first mid-autumn festival holiday would encourage people to travel home.

An estimated 16.8 million passengers would travel by train during the three-day holiday, up 31.3 percent over last year's mid-autumn day.

Besides Li, another 20.3 percent would spend the day with their sweetheart, 11.4 percent with friends, and only 8.4 percent would be alone on the day, the survey showed.