Cartoonist @badiucai's newly release comic on China's Thanksgiving Day.

Very few people know that just like the United States and Canada, China also has a Thanksgiving Day — albeit an informal one. Indeed, netizens invented the holiday a few years back as political satire commenting on the death of Mao Anying, former Chinese leader Mao Zedong's eldest son, during the Korean War (1950-1953).

Fried rice with egg is the traditional meal. Why? Because Mao Anying was killed by an air strike during the Korean War when he was reheating the rice for a late breakfast, according to historical literature on Mao Anying and the Korean War written by former People's Liberation Army solider Wu Lijin. It is believed that the smoke from the fried rice alongside burned apple peel caught the enemy air force's attention and led to the bombing.

For those who celebrate the Chinese Thanksgiving on November 25, they believe that had Mao Anying survived the war, China would have become like North Korea. Hence, they use the occasion to express their thanks to the “enemy” air force.

This year, many Chinese netizens moved to Twitter — which is technically unavailable in China, but uncensored if you can circumvent the official block on the service — to celebrate the Chinese Thanksgiving Day. Participants published messages for the day and photos of fried rice under the hashtags #蛋炒饭节 (Rice With Egg Day) or #中国感恩节 (Chinese Thanksgiving).

Twitter-based cartoonist @badiucai posted a festival comic (see image on top). Journalist @jiajia posted his lunch with a reminder:

友情提醒：今天是蛋炒饭节，标准配置是腊肠蛋炒饭配苹果。吃前拍照上传哦！是中国人就转！标签 #中国感恩节 #chinathanksgiving 。 pic.twitter.com/eg4r9MCGsq

— 賈葭 (@jajia) November 25, 2015

Friendly reminder: Today is Rice With Egg Day. The standard delicacy is fried rice with egg and ham, apple as a side dish. Enjoy your meal and remember to upload the photo. Chinese people please retweet this. #ChineseThanksgiving

@arthur369 has marked the occasion for seven years straight eating fried rice:

又到蛋炒饭纪念日了，感谢上天没有把我们变成西朝鲜。今天也是我生日，午饭固定节目。吃了七年了。 pic.twitter.com/pWmO0n3QPp

— 西乔 (@arthur369) November 25, 2015

Today is Rice With Egg Day. Thank heavens that we didn't turn into North Korea. Today is also my birthday. For seven years, I have this [fried rice] for lunch.

Bill Kwong cartoon from Weibo.

Over on China's Twitter-like Weibo, a number of netizens posted cartoonist Bill Kwong's festival artwork — although the posts were deleted quickly, given that the platform is heavily censored.

Below is a selection of posts on Weibo:

年前的今天，一碗蛋炒饭改变了新中国的命运。不是它，我们今天将会和朝鲜邻居一样(虽然现在也差不多)。感谢美帝飞行员，感谢蛋炒饭！

Sixty-five years ago, a plate of fried rice with egg changed the fate of China. We would have become North Korea without this dish (although the two are becoming alike). Thanks to the US Imperialist Air Force, thanks to fried rice with egg.

刚做好蛋炒饭，我爸就过来了，给他分了一半，他吃得好开心。本来想说今天为什么做蛋炒饭的，但想到毛之于他，相当于周杰伦之于90后，话到嘴边，忍了

Just finished cooking fried rice with egg. My father came along and I had to share the dish with him. He was very happy. I wanted to tell him why I cooked fried rice today, but considering that he worships Mao as much like today's young people's worship [pop-singer] Jay Chou, I stopped myself from telling the story.

今天是中国的感恩节，又名蛋炒饭节，thanksbombing day，非常感谢当年英勇的美军飞行员，你改变了一个国家的命运。

Today is Chinese Thanksgiving day. It is also called Rice With Egg Day, or Thanks-Bombing Day. Thanks to the courageous air force of the USA. You have changed the fate of a country.

But not everyone enjoys the dark humor of the day. Dissident writer @mozhixu commented:

中共搞市场化改革，加入国际经济，在消灭饥饿贫穷等民生层面确有改善，市场化也内在地促进了人身经济文化等权利的落实，所以看着朝鲜油然而有优越感，这恐怕是蛋炒饭节的心理基础，不过，吃食虽好，无公民权利，仍是肉猪，感恩云云，再说，市场化很可能为极权长期续命，有啥可得意的？

— 莫之许 (@mozhixu) November 25, 2015

The Chinese Communist Party's market reform and entrance into the global economy has improved people's livelihood and solved the poverty problem. People to a certain extent enjoy [freedom in] cultural and economic activities. This is the psychology behind the celebration of Rice With Egg Day. However, you have the right to eat, but no civil right. Pigs are pigs, even they are grateful [for their status]. The current marketization will likely help the dictatorship to survive longer. There is nothing for us to celebrate.

For people living outside China, at least, the hashtag was amusing:

@crehage really? Is that true? but not really matter, now I have an appetite for #蛋炒饭 🍚🍚🍚🍚🍚

— Pia (@Lu_Peiya) November 25, 2015