Why is jiaozi a traditional food in China?

Jiaozi, also known as jiaozi, is a traditional special food deeply loved by the people of China. It is the staple food and local snacks for people in northern China, and it is also a New Year's food. Jiaozi is characterized by its thin skin and tender stuffing, delicious taste and unique shape, which makes people have an appetite. Jiaozi's raw materials are rich in nutrition, and the cooking method ensures less loss of nutrients, which conforms to the connotation of China's color, fragrance and food culture. Jiaozi is a folk food with a long history and is deeply loved by people. There is a folk saying "delicious but not as good as jiaozi". During the Spring Festival, jiaozi has become an indispensable delicacy. Jiaozi originated from the ancient trough. Jiaozi jiaozi is a kind of pasta filled with bread, which is shaped like a half moon or an ingot. Jiaozi is a typical folk food in northern China. People think it is "delicious but not as good as jiaozi". Jiaozi originated in China a long time ago, which may be a holiday food differentiated from wonton food. Half-moon wonton is probably the predecessor of jiaozi. Wonton is a seasonal food for the winter solstice festival in ancient China. After the first day of the first month was regarded as the beginning of the year, the seasonal food from the winter solstice was moved as the seasonal food for the beginning of the year.

Jiaozi first appeared in the Southern and Northern Dynasties. Today, archaeological discoveries can prove that the Tang Dynasty already enjoyed jiaozi cuisine. 1972, Jiaozi was found in the tomb of Astana in Turpan, Xinjiang. Jiaozi was called "flat food" in Yuan and Ming Dynasties, "cake" in Qing Dynasty and "boiled cake" with jiaozi on New Year's Eve.

Zi, formerly known as Joule, was invented by Zhang Zhongjing, a doctor in China, with a history of 1800 years. Jiaozi has become a symbolic food for the Northern New Year. On the one hand, because of the delicious food in jiaozi itself, in the traditional society where life is not rich, ordinary people seldom eat a meal of jiaozi with white flour and big stuffing on weekdays, so jiaozi is considered as the best food for Chinese New Year.

The more important reason is that jiaozi has cultural symbolic significance, and jiaozi is a symbol of the changes of the times. In the folk concept, when the new year and the old year alternate at midnight, when the New Year's Eve and the New Year alternate, the whole family eats jiaozi to celebrate the New Year, which means saying goodbye to the old and welcoming the new year. Because jiaozi is shaped like a silver ingot, there is a pot on the table, which has the symbolic meaning of "making a fortune in the New Year, and the ingot rolls in". Jiaozi is cooked, so it is not "broken" or "rotten", but "earned" and "rose".

In addition, for the sake of luck and happiness, people will put some things in jiaozi, such as red dates, which means having children early or getting rich early; Some put chestnuts, which means good luck; Others put coins in, and whoever eats them means who can make a fortune.