The Importance of Dumplings

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The origins of the Lunar New Year, also known as Chinese New Year, are immersed in legend. One folklore dating back a thousand years talks of a monster named Nian (translates to ‘year’), who attacked villagers once a year. The villagers drove the monster away with loud noises, bright lights, and rich colors. And thus, the start of each Chinese year begins by warding off “bad omen” and welcoming good luck. The Lunar New Year is celebrated across the world by the Asian diaspora, and Chinese New Year in Texas is no different!

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Celebrations for the Chinese New Year last more than a fortnight, beginning on the eve of the Chinese New Year and leading up to the Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day. In 2022, the period falls from January 31st to February 15th.

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Homes are cleaned prior to New Year’s Day, as nobody wants to brush out any good fortune at the start of the year! Celebrations to bring forth the fortune and prosperity of the New Year often include fireworks, crimson clothes, decorations, and lots of good food. The Lantern Festival is all about brightly colored lanterns and extravagant processions and parades.

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And the fun doesn’t end here.

The Chinese New Year is also a time to feast and get together with family and friends.

People prepare and enjoy special foods on specific days during the celebrations.

One must-have delicacy during the New Year festivities is dumplings. Chinese dumplings are more than just food-filled pockets of dough. They make up a culinary tradition that is much more complex, both in what it stands for and what it offers those eating the dumplings. Let us have a closer look into why these little bite-sized snacks hold importance in Chinese cuisine and, in particular, the Lunar New Year.

Chinese Heritage in Texas

We are lucky to live in an incredibly diverse state, filled with unique cultures from African-American, to German, Mexican, Japanese, and Chinese influences, to name a few. The first Chinese immigrants arrived in Texas to help build the Houston and Central Texas railroad. Shortly after, an exclusionary law banned further Chinese people from settling in Texas as in much of the United States, which wasn't lifted until 1943.

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Tensions during the World Wars created hostile environments for both Chinese and Japanese immigrants throughout the US, despite the fact that many Asian Americans served in both wars. Today, Texas is vibrant and diversified thanks to the influence of Asian Americans and many other cultural and ethnic groups and we get to participate and witness beautiful celebrations like Chinese New Year!

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Origin of Dumplings

With a history that goes back over 1800 years, dumplings (饺子 Jiǎozi /jyaoww-dzrr/) are a timeless staple for the Chinese people and a customary dish eaten on the Lunar New Year’s Eve.

But who created the first dumpling? And what’s the story behind its origin?

Locals believe that dumplings were created by Zhang Zhongjing, a famous medicine practitioner who lived in the Eastern Han Dynasty (206 BC to 220 AD).

Once during a particularly harsh winter, people from his ancestral village were succumbing to the cold. Due to a dearth of warm clothes and sufficient food, several people suffered frostbite, mainly around their ears. People say that in an aim to treat the condition, Zhang cooked lamb in medicinal spices and herbs and used it to fill in pockets of dough. He shaped them to resemble ears and boiled them to make a nourishing soup. The patients were given two “ears” in a bowl of broth, and within a short span of time, their frostbite seemed to die down.

Ever since, people have indulged in dumpling soup, especially in the time between the winter solstice and New Year’s Eve. Many people have added to Zhang’s original recipe, using ingredients such as vegetables and various kinds of meat, to celebrate the Chinese New Year.

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But this story is not the only one providing a theory on the origin of dumplings. Chinese archeologists found a bowl that was typically used to serve dumpling soup in the tombs of the Tang Dynasty in Turpan. Additionally, in the Northern Qi Dynasty, Yan Zhitui wrote about how crescent-shaped jiaozi were loved around the world.

This is particularly interesting as you can find variations on the humble dumpling in almost every culture. Be it Italian raviolis or Brazilian empanadas, or even the Arabic qatayef, the origin of the dumpling has several starting points, to which each culture attaches a unique history.

Dumplings, or “jiaozi”, as they are called, resembled the local currency’s shape, so serving them was thought to bring prosperity and wealth.

Legend says that the more dumplings you enjoy during the New Year celebrations, the richer you will be in the New Year.

Types of Jiaozi, or Chinese Dumplings

Wheat flour (how long does flour last?) dough, dough made from rice flour (how long does rice flour last?) or tapioca starch (how long does tapioca starch last?), steamed or fried dumplings, sweet or savory, leavened or unleavened - the techniques used to make dumplings and create their mouthwatering flavors depend on the occasion, the region where they are made, and the family making them.

While the original Chinese dumplings were simply filled with lamb, black pepper and some herbs, the range of fillings you can find in jiaozi today can signify several things.

• Beef-filled and fish-filled dumplings are believed to bring financial growth.

• Dumplings filled with cabbage symbolize good luck for generations to come.

• Sauerkraut (how long does sauerkraut last?) (酸菜 suāncài /swann-tseye/) dumplings are shunned, whereas eating cabbage and radish filled dumplings is a traditions that implies a person’s skin will become fair and their mood will become gentle.

• Celery dumplings signify diligence.

• Tangyuan (湯圓) are small-sized dumplings made with rice flour and filled with sweet sesame seeds (how long do sesame seeds last?), peanut, and red bean paste (how long does red bean paste last?). Other sweet dumplings are also enjoyed without any particular filling. Tangyuan are specially eaten on the 15th day of the Chinese New Year (the Lantern Festival).

• Mushroom dumplings bring fortune to all those who eat them.

• If you find a white thread inside a dumpling, it means that you will live a long life. Sometimes a copper coin found in a dumpling signifies wealth for the one who eats it.

• Dumplings are supposed to be arranged in lines instead of circles, as the latter can mean one’s life will go round in circles, never reaching anywhere.

• Before eating a dumpling, all the people at the dinner table usually say the phrase: “Zhāo cái jìn bǎo”,“ which means “We wish you wealth and success!”

  Enjoying a meal of Chinese dumplings is a complete cultural experience in itself. Have you had your first dumpling experience yet? Let us know in the comments below!

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