About 3,000 years ago, the Chinese people began celebrating the beginning of their calendar year with a joyful festival, Lunar New Year. Every year starts with a big feast. Then in many homes, after the feast is cleared, the whole family gathers to make dumplings late into the night.
There are many special foods of the New Year. The most common one is dumplings— traditionally these were made in homes in northern China, but now they've spread around the world. They usually look like crescent moons(新月)or round balls. They may be similar to ancient Chinese money as well. They are filled with simple ingredients like pork and cabbage, which are said to bring fortune to the household.
"The whole family gathers to chat and make the dumplings, which are eaten between midnight and 2 a.m.," says Grace Young, author of Stir-Frying to the Sky's Edge, a book of Chinese recipes and stories, and The Breath of a Wok, a book of the traditional knowledge of the Chinese food.
In The Breath of a Wok, Lijun Wang, Chinese-American author Amy Tan's sister, recalls fondly," As the jiao-zi boiled, it was important not to remove the lid too soon," says Lijun." If you did, it could mean that you'd lose your fortune in the coming year. Sometimes we would put a coin inside one dumpling for luck."
" And historically, on New Year's morning, it was customary not to cook but we were always happy to eat leftover (剩下的) jiao-zi," says Anderson, professor of the University of California," In northern China, food was pretty scarce, especially in the winter. People were down to what little meat and flour they had left. It just made sense to make dumplings when you wanted a little celebration but didn't have a lot of money or food."
