Jiaozi, a traditional food for Spring Festival

Jiaozi is a traditional food for Spring Festival in the north of China. It is also a cultural custom of the festival. On the first day of the New Year every household will have jiaozi made the previous night. Without eating jiaozi you are not celebrating the festival in the real sense of the word.

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Originally jiaozi referred to the moment “across midnight”. The Chinese name for the period between 11:00 midnight and 1.00 the next morning is called zi and jiao means “across” and later jiaozi became the name of the food made before midnight and eaten after it. 中华民俗节庆网

The Chinese people have been eating jiaozi for the past 2000 years. It is a small piece of dough pressed thin with a roller and then wrapped up with fillings inside which are usually of minced pork, beef or mutton mixed with chopped vegetable and spiced with onion, ginger, sesame and salt. www.1155815.cn

Southerners prefer yunton developed from jiaozi. With some slight alteration jiaozi was reshaped like a gold ingot——ancient Chinese money ——a symbol of prosperity. Both jiaozi and yunton are favorite delicacies for Spring Festival. They are also found on daily menu. 

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中华民俗节庆网