What are some of the foods you can't live without for Chinese New Year?

1. Dumplings. Also known as "dumplings". Dumplings originated in the period of the North and South Dynasties, is essential to the northern New Year's Eve dinner to a dish, but the custom of eating dumplings varies from place to place, some places eat dumplings on New Year's Eve, and some places eat dumplings on the first day of the year.

Dumplings are synonymous with the word "jiaozi," which means the moment when the New Year meets the old year, which means more years of jiaozi, and eating dumplings at the Spring Festival is considered to be an act of great luck. In addition, the dumplings are shaped like Yuanbao, which means that they are wrapped with good luck, and eating dumplings implies a rich life. Nowadays, eating dumplings at the Spring Festival is a unique way for people to express their desire to pray for good luck and good fortune at the time of the old year and the new year.

2. Rice cake. Since the Zhou Dynasty, China has a traditional custom of eating rice cakes on New Year's Day. Rice cakes are usually yellow and white in color, just like gold and silver in ancient times. The rice cake not only symbolizes people's desire to live in abundance, the good wishes of the harvest, but also "high" the meaning of longevity.

3. Spring cake. Ancient spring people often eat cakes, people will be very thin, so also known as pancakes. Spring cake can be eaten with a variety of vegetables, this eating method is called spring plate. Every year to the day of spring, many northern people have to eat spring cake, known as "bite spring". In the south of the Yangtze River, there are also spring cakes, but the practice is different from that of the north.

4. Lantern. The south is called "dumplings", in Jiangsu, Shanghai, some areas, people will eat dumplings on the morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year. Lanterns are shaped like the moon, taking the auspicious meaning of "reunion as the moon". In the Ming Dynasty, the Lantern Festival has been very common, the practice is not different from today.