Zongzi from the hands of my Mom

By Hanna Liu | Student | EBSC YZU

Hi! I’m Hannah

Today I would like to introduce Chinese traditional “zongzi”. It is a traditional Chinese rice dish made of glutinous rice stuffed with different fillings and wrapped in bamboo leaves. There are two kinds of "zongzi", salty and sweet.

It’s a special food for our Dragon Boat Festival , which falls on the fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar (approximately late-May to mid-June).

A popular belief amongst the Chinese of eating zongzi involved commemorating the death of Qu Yuan, a famous Chinese poet from the kingdom of Chu who lived during the Warring States period.[2] Known for his patriotism, Qu Yuan tried unsuccessfully to warn his king and countrymen against the expansionism of their Qin neighbors. When the Qin general Pai Chi took Yingtu, the Chu capital, in 278 BC, Qu Yuan's grief was so intense that he drowned himself in the Miluo River after penning the Lament for Ying. According to legend, packets of rice were thrown into the river to prevent the fish from eating the poet's body.

Last weekend, my mother wrapped some zongzi by herself. Every year she always wraps over 200 zongzi and give them to every friend and relatives.

Look at the salty egg yolk!