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Today is Winter Coming day! See what CHinese eat today!
Dec 21, 2004 14:42
It's dumpling! In case you freeze your ears:)
Dec 21, 2004 14:43
#1  
Dumpling is ready.

Dec 21, 2004 14:58
#2  
Ready!

Dec 22, 2004 14:49
#3  
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Dongzhi always precede X'mas. It falls on the 21/22 each year. This year was on the 21st, yesterday! Next year, 2005 will be on the 22 Dec.
It signifies "The Arrival of Winter" (winter solstice) in the Chinese calendar and it occurs 6 weeks before the Chinese New Year. It marks the day when sunshine is weakest and daylight is shortest. Therefore, it is time for farmers and fishermen to collect supplies and food in preparation for the coming winter. People of the past thought that Christmas is the western style of Dongzhi. In modern times, Dongzhi is likened to Western version of "Thanksgiving".
Dec 22, 2004 14:55
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Generally speaking, in this day, the southern would eat "tang yuan", a glutinous rice flour balls in soup which can be served plain or have fillings like sesame seeds in it; on this festival. For good luck, the tang yuen is usually served in pink and white balls.

"Yuan" literally means "roun"' which symbolize "completeness" as in "yuan man" of the cycle. Thus, it means unity and harmony within the family.

While the northern wouls eat dumplings. There is a famous story telling why they should eat dumplings this day.
From the last years of the Han Dynasty (25-220 AD) Zhang Zhongjing, a famous doctor during this time, was returning to his hometown when he encountered the people of Nanyang (a county of the Eastern Han Dynasty) who were suffering so badly from hunger and cold that their ears were frostbitten. Being midwinter and common for people to die of the bitter cold, Zhang Zhonjing followed the 300-year clinical practices of the Han Dynasty, mixing mutton, cayenne and some special medicine together, and wrapped it together as the filling in a slice of dough shaped like an ear. After decocting the dumpling of that day, he sent it to the poor. People ate this special medicine up until Chinese New Year's Eve. Miraculously, they avoided typhoid and their frostbitten ears were cured. Since then, eating dumplings has become a custom and a necessity at each festival. The 1400-year history of the dumpling took root in people's hearts, and today the dumpling is the quintessential Chinese food.

Just share it with you all^_^

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