A mouthwatering aroma infuses the streets of Ninghai county, Ningbo, as Mid-Autumn Festival approaches on September 21.

Handmade mooncakes, especially Ninghai mooncakes, are a crispy, tasty treat in the East China coastal city.

Joining us on our mooncake quest is a 19-year-old Iranian student who has lived in the Zhejiang Province coastal city for 17 years.

Seyedeh Sara Ahmadi Nishaboori, who speaks fluent Chinese, is studying neuroscience at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada.

As we reach Yuelong subdistrict, Nishaboori bounds out of the car and hits a roadside mooncake stall, a branch of the Caohu Food Company.

She greets the chef in Ningbo dialect, “Can you teach me how to make mooncakes?” Busy kneading the dough, the chef looks up and replies “Sure!”

Click on the video for some mooncake making magic.