Despite the anti-extravagance campaign that has affected the market recently, luxury mooncakes are making a comeback this year, according to a report by Beijing Youth Daily.
Several hotels are marketing mooncake gift packages with a wide range of prices, from 200 yuan ($31.18) to 2,000 yuan ($311,80), in preparation for the upcoming Mid-Autumn Festival, which will take place on Sept. 27 this year.
The gift baskets contain a variety of items, not exclusively mooncakes. In fact, mooncakes make up a small fraction of the overall cost of the gift package.
The Hilton Beijing Wangfujing offers a gift basket that costs 899 yuan. The basket contains a mooncake package that costs 198 yuan, with the rest of the 701 yuan going to a bottle of wine from France, a box of chocolates and exotic snacks.
At China World Summit Wing, a person who is interested in buying a basket worth 1,588 yuan or 1,888 yuan would have 13 options to choose from to fill the basket. They can choose from a list of items ranging from 88 yuan to 1,000 yuan, including wines, Moutai liquor, abalone, iPhone cases and olive oil.
In major bakery chains in Beijing, packaging fees account for about half of the total value of the mooncake gift packages that are offered to customers. Several mooncake varieties are even offered only in package form.
Beijing disciplinary official Zhao Yuqi has called on related departments to improve reporting systems and have stricter supervision and enforcement of discipline in order to crack down on public funds being used to purchase luxury mooncakes. This is in line with the recent actions taken to eliminate corruption in all levels of government.