Hong Kong ( CNN ) -- Presenting mooncakes to relatives and business associates may be an integral part of China 's Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations , but a new law aims to dampen the spirit of mooncake giving -- at least among government officials . As announced by the Communist Party 's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection , and reported by the state-run Xinhua news agency , the Chinese government has announced that officials will no longer be able to use public money to send mooncakes as gifts during the festival . This year 's Mid-Autumn Festival falls on September 19 . The new restriction is being presented as part of President Xi Jinping 's campaign against corruption and official largesse . `` Superior departments and officials should seize on the trend of these luxurious celebrations and be courageous enough to spot and rectify decadent behavior in a timely manner while setting an example themselves , '' the party circular read . The traditional pastry eaten during the Mid-Autumn Festival is normally filled with salted duck egg yolk and lotus seed paste . The egg yolk inside symbolizes the moon -- each piece can contain up to 1,000 calories . Mainland China and Hong Kong are particularly devoted to mooncakes . Come the fifteenth day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar , many bakeries set up special mooncake counters just to service customers seeking the pastries . `` Ninety percent of people who buy mooncakes give them to others , '' says Karlson Wong , head of sales and marketing at Kee Wah Bakery , one of Hong Kong 's oldest bakeries . `` It 's an opportunity to show respect and build relationships . '' Mooncake graft . A traditional time for family members to gather , the Mid-Autumn Festival has a unique gift-giving culture . Although gifts and `` lucky '' envelopes filled with cash are exchanged during Chinese New Year , these must typically be accompanied by personal visits to people 's homes . Not so for the Mid-Autumn Festival . Gifts can be sent by mail , opening up a whole new world of opportunity to pay respect to many people in a wide network all at once . In recent years , mooncake giving has exploded in mainland China . Boxes worth upward of RMB 2,000 ( $ 318 ) are snapped up by businesspeople eager to bet their business relations on a cake . Expensive mooncake packages have been known to include high-grade tea leaves , bottles of alcohol or hidden envelopes of cash or coupons for luxury goods , riding the fine line between gifting and bribing . Last year , mainland authorities began enforcing a rule on gift packages , disallowing all non-mooncake items from packs labeled `` mooncake . '' This year 's law is meant to deliver an even stronger blow against Big Mooncake .
Chinese officials are no longer able to use public money to send mooncakes as gifts . The new restriction is part of a campaign against corruption . Comment: Expensive mooncake gifts have become important in Chinese business culture .