中秋节月饼包装价格在月亮之上

Mid-Autumn Cakes: Overpriced, Over-packaged, and over the moon

中秋节月饼：价格过高，过度包装，一切都在月亮之上

Over-packaging of products has long been a bane in China. And despite repeated official attempts to put an end to the practice, it shows no signs of abating.

产品过度包装在中国一直是祸患。尽管官方不断采取措施试图杜绝这一行径，但它并没有显示出减弱的迹象。

And with the Mid-Autumn Festival approaching, mooncake producers have gone into overdrive in their push to decorate - rather overdo - their mooncake packages.

随着中秋节临近，月饼生产商早已不遗余力地在月饼包装上下功夫，而这已经不是做过头了。

The city watchdog's pleas to tone down the packaging have fallen on deaf ears with the seasonal snack adorned in spacious and heavily-decorated packaging to cater to the demands of gift givers, a Shanghai Daily investigation shows.

《上海日报》的调查显示，随着季节性小吃通过宽敞且注重装饰的包装来迎合送礼者的需求，城市监管部门淡化包装的要求早已被其置若罔闻。

At least half of the mooncake boxes in local stores risk breaking national standard rules on size or price restrictions with a single lavishly packed box easily selling for as much as several hundred yuan, according to the investigation.

根据调查，当地商店里至少有一半月饼盒在违反国家规定的尺寸或价格限制上冒险，因为仅仅一个华丽的包装盒就很容易售价高达几百元。

Multi-layer packaging and over-spacious boxes are a common sight ahead of the Mid-Autumn Festival, which this year falls on September 30 and when Chinese people eat mooncakes as a tradition.

多层包装和过度宽敞的盒子是一个中秋节前的常见景象，今年中秋适逢9月30日，那天中国人把吃月饼当做过节传统。

In a downtown supermarket near Zhongshan Park in Changning District, a huge mooncake box was found to only contain four cakes, each weighing about 100 grams, and eight smaller ones. The biggest mooncake inside was only about four forefingers in diameter but the metal gift box itself was about 70 centimeters long, 30 centimeters wide and 10 centimeters thick.

位于长宁区中山公园附近的超市里，一个巨大的月饼盒被发现只装了4个饼，每块重约100克，附带着8个更小的。盒子里面最大的月饼直径大约只有四食指，但金属礼品盒本身就差不多长70厘米，宽30厘米，厚10厘米。

According to a salesman surnamed Wang a pack of six mooncakes, each weighing 100 grams, was being sold in three different packages. The normal package costs 158 yuan (US$25). An extra-big luxury package, about 60 centimeters long, 60 centimeters wide and 20 centimeters thick and containing the same six mooncakes, is sold for 398 yuan, revealed Wang.

据一个姓王的推销员透露，每个重达100克的月饼6个一打，以三种不同的包装出售。正常包装要158元（25美元）。一个超大的豪华装，约60厘米长，60厘米宽，20厘米厚，装着六个同样的月饼，销售为398元。

With pleas going unheard, the city government is now moving toward legislation to force manufacturers to toe the line on packaging.

随着要求被置若罔闻，市政府正试图通过立法来使制造商在包装上遵守规定。

A draft of a future local law suggests imposing a fine of up to 100,000 yuan on manufacturers and sellers each time they are caught wasting resources on unnecessary packaging.

未来当地的法律草案建议一旦生产商和销售商在不必要的包装上造成资源浪费就对他们进行高达10万元的罚款。

A national standard on food packaging mandates that the packaging cost should be less than 20 percent of the product's selling price.

食品包装的国家标准要求包装成本应低于产品销售价格的20%。