Editor's Note: Mooncakes are making the headlines as this year’s Mid-Autumn Festival approaches. The perfectly round mooncakes resemble the full moon and are symbols of unity. They are normally sweet, but the stuffing and making of such "Chinese pies" can vary greatly in different parts of China. Let’s take a look at these mooncakes.

Anhui style mooncakes

Photo taken on Sept. 29, 2017 shows Anhui style mooncakes in Xiuning County of Huangshan, east China's Anhui Province. The 68-year-old Cheng Guisheng has learned making a kind of special mooncakes with traditional Anhui characteristics when he was young. The stuffing of the mooncakes is mixed pickled edible wild herbs with lard oil and sugar. This kind of mooncakes are traditional cakes for people in the ancient Huizhou area when Mid-autumn Festival is coming around. (Xinhua/Shi Yalei)

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Shrimp-cheese moon cakes

Cook make shrimp-cheese moon cakes at a restaurant in Shanghai, east China, Sept. 26, 2017. (Xinhua/Du Xiaoyi)

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Mooncakes in Zhejiang

A baker makes moon cakes at a bakery in the Tangqi ancient town in Hangzhou, capital of east China's Zhejiang Province, Sept. 29, 2017. (Xinhua/Xu Yu)

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Mooncakes in Shanxi

Workers make mooncakes in Yangcheng County, north China's Shanxi Province, Sept. 21, 2017. (Xinhua/Chen Yuanzi)

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Mooncakes in Jiangxi

A worker makes mooncake in Wanzai County, east China's Jiangxi Province, Sept. 22, 2017. (Xinhua/Deng Longhua)

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Mooncakes in Sichuan

A staff member arranges mooncakes at a bakery in Suining, southwest China's Sichuan Province, Sept. 23, 2017. (Xinhua/Zhong Min)

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Mooncakes in Shaanxi

A staff member makes mooncakes at a store in Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province, Sept. 23, 2017. (Xinhua/Zhang Shuzhong)

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Mooncakes in Beijing

Workers make mooncakes at a pastry company in Tongzhou District of China's capital Beijing, Sept. 27, 2017. (Xinhua)

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Mooncakes in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region

Pupils learn to make mooncakes in Hohhot, capital of north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Sept. 22, 2017. (Xinhua/Ding Genhou)

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Mooncakes in Jiangsu

Workers make moon cakes at a food factory in Nanjing, capital of east China's Jiangsu Province, Sept. 25, 2017. (Xinhua/Chen Congying)

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Self-made moon cake in Qinghai

Suo Zhanxiang (L) and Suo Zhanhua show a self-made moon cake at Suobutan village of Huzhu Tu autonomous county in Haidong, Northwest China's Qinghai province, Oct 2, 2017. The special mooncake is a traditional food of Tu ethnic group on the occasion of the Mid-Autumn Festival, which falls on Oct 4 this year. [Photo/Xinhua]

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Customized moon cakes

Combined photos show a baker making customized moon cakes at a bakery in Yushan County, east China's Jiangxi Province, Sept. 22, 2017. (Xinhua/Liu Qian)

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Traditional carp-shaped cakes in Fujian

Colorful carp-shaped cakes. [Photo/Xinhua]

As the Mid-Autumn Festival approaches, the sale of traditional carp-shaped cakes enters a peak time in Fuzhou.

The cakes are made of flour, sugar, bean paste as well as other materials and shaped like carp fish.

The carp-shaped cake originates from Fuzdhou, East China's Fujian province, so it is called "local mooncake" in Fuzhou.

According to local customs, the elders, especially grandparents, will send carp-shaped cakes, which symbolize blessings and expectations from the elders, to their grandsons and granddaughters during Mid-Autumn Festival.

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Cantonese mooncake

Delicate moon cakes offered by the Venice Raytour Hotel Shenzhen to celebrate the incoming Mid-autumn Festival. [File photo]