中國傳統(tǒng)的新年食物

Given the importance of food in Chinese culture, it is not surprising that food plays a major role in Chinese New Year celebrations. "Lucky foods" are served throughout the 15-day-long celebration, also called Spring Festival.

"Lucky food" sometimes is based on appearance. For example, serving a whole chicken during the Chinese New Year season symbolizes family integrity. Noodles represent a long life (an old superstition says that it is bad luck to cut them). And spring rolls symbolize wealth because their shape is similar to gold bars.

On the other hand, a food may be significant because of its name that sounds. For example, the Cantonese word for "lettuce is similar" to the word meaning "rising fortune", so it is very common to serve lettuce leaves filled with other "lucky foods". Tangerines and oranges are passed out freely during Chinese New Year because their names sound like "luck" and "wealth" respectively. Pomelo, the large ancestor of the grapefruit, signifies abundance because the Chinese word for it sounds like the verb "to have".

Fish also play a large role in the festive celebrations. The Chinese word for "fish" sounds like the words for both "wish" and "abundance". As a result, on Chinese New Year's Eve it is customary to serve a fish at the end of the dinner, symbolizing a wish for abundance during the coming year. For added symbolism, the fish is served whole, with head and tail attached, symbolizing a good beginning and end for the coming year.

Snacks such as sticky rice cake have symbolic significance as well. Their sweetness symbolizes a rich, honeyed life, while the layers symbolize rising abundance for the coming year. Finally, the round shape signifies family reunion.

Jiaozi (one kind of dumpling) is the must-try "lucky food" during Spring Festival. Its Chinese pronunciation means "midnight" or "the end and the beginning of time". It is said that dumplings were first known in China some 1,600 years ago. According to historical records, in ancient times people from both north and south ate dumplings on Chinese New Year's Day. The shape of jiaozi resembles that of ancient gold and silver ingots or a crescent moon, and it symbolizes the hope for a year of plenty.

While jiaozi is popular in the north, a rice pudding called niangao (or New Year Cakes) is among the foods most popular in the south. In Chinese, "gao" is a homonym for "high". The food symbolizing progress and promotion at work and life year by year, is a sweet, sticky, brown cake made from rice flour and sugar, a kind of glutinous white cake in the shape of rectangle. It is delicious when steamed, fried, fried with eggs or even eaten cold.      

The Lantern Festival is an important traditional Chinese festival, which is on the 15th of the first lunar month, marking the end of celebrations of the Chinese New Year. Besides entertainment and beautiful lanterns, another important part of the festival is eating yuanxiao (or tangtuan, small dumpling balls made of glutinous rice flour). Obviously, the name was from the festival itself. Filled with sweet stuffing and round in shape, it symbolizes family unity, completeness and happiness.

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