Mid-Autumn Festival(BOBING-moon cake gambling)
The euphonious clang of dice colliding with china bowls can often be heard in Xiamen at this time of year as the coastal city is enjoying the Bo Bing game or Moon cake dice game during the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Bo Bing is a traditional gambling game involving six dice, a round bowl and of course moon cakes. Its origins can be traced back to the great general Zheng Chenggong. The game was created as a way to occupy his troops as they waited during the mid-autumn festival before retaking Taiwan from foreign occupation.
Despite the fact that Bo Bing is widely practiced in Xiamen, Ningde, Kinmen and other areas in southern Fujian and Taiwan during Mid-Autumn Festival, the rules are never completely unified.
“There are always some differences in different places, especially when it comes to deciding who is the No.1 winner or Zhuangyuan, due to historical and cultural reasons,” said Gong Jie, former curator of Xiamen Museum and a renowned history expert, at a cross-strait Bo Bing culture symposium.
Gong suggested that the authorities could convene folklore experts and ordinary citizens to discuss and work out a unified Bo Bing rule to better promote the development of the game.
Forget about the disputes, WOX has kindly found a widely-recognized Bo Bing set of rules in Xiamen. Enjoy the game with your friends, and we wish you a happy Mid-autumn Festival.
A widely-recognized Bo Bing rule in Xiamen