The Mid-Winter Festival is Coming!

Dear friends, on the day of December the 22th of 2014, 冬至(dōnɡzhì) the Chinese Mid-Winter Festival is coming, which falls directly on or around December 22 of each year. It is actually on the day that the sun shines weakly and daylight is shortened. This is a very important holiday for China, and is still celebrated in parts of China today. Today our online Mandarin tutor will help you know what do Chinese people eat on that day.

South-汤圆(tānɡyuán) rice dumplings

Our Mandarin tutor will help you know that in the southern parts of China and people usually eat of tangyuan “汤圆(tānɡyuán)” balls of glutinous rice, which symbolize reunion. “汤圆(tānɡyuán)” are made of glutinous rice flour and sometimes brightly coloured. Each family member receives at least one large “汤圆(tānɡyuán)” in addition to several small ones. The flour balls may be plain or stuffed. They are cooked in a sweet soup or savory broth with both the ball and the soup/broth served in one bowl.

North-饺子(jiǎozi) dumplings

Our private Chinese teacher can help you to know that dumplings are the most essential and popular food for Mid-Winter Festival, especially in northern China. There is a legend that 张仲景(Zhang Zhongjing) a renowned medical scientist at the end of Eastern Han Dynasty (25 - 220), found his fellow-townsman suffering from coldness and hunger when he returned from his position of prefecture chief in winter. More severely, many of them had terrible chilblains in the ears. On the Mid-Winter Festival, he cooked food named Jiao Er with a stuffing of medicine and other ingredients fending off the cold to feed these people, and they recovered soon. Later people learned to make the food to create the present dumplings.

Besides, through our online Chinese courses you can also know that Chinese people eat “粽子(zònɡzi)” in Dragon Boat Festival, eat “月饼(yuèbǐnɡ)” in Mid-Autumn Festival and eat “年糕(niánɡāo)” in ther Spring Festival.

 Source: 

http://wangyuliang.blogdetik.com/2014/12/17/the-mid-winter-festival-is-coming/