How did the traditional food "dumplings" come into being?

Dumplings are a traditional food favored by the people of China. The method of making dumplings is to make thin, soft dumpling skins out of flour, and then chop up fresh meat and cabbage. It is mixed with condiments to make the filling, wrapped, and boiled in a pot until the dumplings float to the surface. It is characterized by its thin skin, tender filling, beautiful taste, unique shape, and appetizing taste.

Dumplings, originally known as jiaoer, were first invented by the Chinese medical sage Zhang Zhongjing.

In the late Eastern Han Dynasty, there were serious disasters all over the world and many people were sick. There was a famous doctor in Nanyang named Zhang Ji, named Zhongjing. He studied hard on medical books since he was a child and learned from all the best, and became the founder of Chinese medicine. Zhang Zhongjing was not only skillful in medicine, but also had the ability to get rid of all difficult and complicated diseases. In addition, he had noble medical ethics. Whether poor or rich, he treated people seriously and saved countless lives.

When Zhang Zhongjing was an official in Changsha, he often treated people. One year, when the local plague was prevalent, he set up a cauldron at the entrance of the government office and gave medicine to save people, which was y loved by the people of Changsha. After Zhang Zhongjing returned from Changsha, he went to his hometown on both sides of the Baihe River and saw many poor people starving and freezing their ears. He was very disturbed and determined to cure them. When Zhang Zhongjing returned home, there were many people seeking treatment. He was busy, but he always thought of the poor people with frozen ears. Imitating what he had done in Changsha, he asked his disciples to set up a medicine shed and cauldron in a vacant lot in Dongguan, Nanyang, and opened it on the winter solstice to give medicine and treatment to the poor.

Zhang Zhongjing's medicine was called "Jiaoer's Soup for Dispelling Cold". It was made by boiling mutton, chili peppers and some cold-removing herbs in a pot, then removing and chopping these and wrapping them in flour to form ear-shaped jiao ears, which were boiled in the pot and given to begging patients. Each person had two delicate ears and a bowl of soup. When a person eats the soup to get rid of cold, his body is warm, his qi and blood flow smoothly, and his ears are hot. After eating it for some time, the patient's rotten ears were cured.

Zhang Zhongjing continued to give the medicine until the 30th day of the New Year. On the first day of the New Year, people celebrated the New Year and the recovery of the rotten ear. They made food for the New Year imitating the charming ear and ate it on the first morning. People called this food "dumpling ears," "dumplings," or parboiled food, and ate it on the winter solstice and the first day of the Lunar New Year to commemorate the day when Zhang opened his medicine shed and cured the sick.

Zhang Zhongjing was born nearly 1,800 years ago, but the story of his "fascinating ear soup to get rid of cold" is widely spread among the people. Every winter solstice and the first day of the Lunar New Year, people eat dumplings, still thinking of Zhang Zhongjing's kindness. Today, we don't need to treat frozen ears with delicate ears, but dumplings have become the most common and favorite food.