Illustration: Peter C. Espina/GT

 Mid-Autumn Festival, the 15th day of the eighth lunar month, is coming, and an increasing number of shops have introduced specially-tailored mooncakes, the traditional stodgy delight of the festival. Customs can order special festival cards with their personal blessings or signatures. Packages for mooncakes can be creatively designed to reflect the personality and the taste of the buyers. For the real mooncake fanatics, some shops have introduced special pre-paid cards that can be topped up with as much money as buyers want. The introduction of these customer-tailored services was originally a selling point. However, there's been a history that some customers may take advantage of the gift cards for surreptitious bribes, as such tailored services leave no trace and are hard for the authorities to trace. The Mid-Autumn Festival should be a special day for families to get together, not a hotbed for corruption.