What is the origin and development of jiaozi?

Chinese Pinyin: Ji O

English: Chinese meat wonton; ; A stuffed jiaozi; Chinese dumpling

Jiaozi, also known as jiaozi, is a traditional special food deeply loved by the people of China. It is a staple food for people in northern China, a local snack and a holiday food. There is a folk song called "Xiao Han, eat jiaozi in the New Year." Jiaozi often cooks with flour and leather bag stuffing. Jiaozi originated in the Southern and Northern Dynasties. Jiaozi mostly uses cold water and flour as agents, mixing flour and water, rolling into coarse dough, and then cutting the dough into small round dough with a knife. Finally, roll the dough into a round skin with a slightly thicker middle and a thinner periphery, wrap it with stuffing, knead it into a crescent or angular shape, and cook it in a pot until jiaozi comes to the surface. Dumpling skin can also be hot noodles, crispy noodles or rice noodles; The stuffing can be vegetarian, sweet and salty; Mature methods can also be steaming, roasting, frying, frying, etc. Meat stuffing includes three delicacies, shrimp, crab roe, sea cucumber, fish, chicken, pork, beef, mutton, chicken and so on. Vegetarian stuffing can be divided into mixed vegetarian stuffing and ordinary vegetarian stuffing. 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.

origin

Jiaozi originated from the ancient trough. As early as the Three Kingdoms period, this kind of food was mentioned in the book Guangya written by Wei. According to textual research, it was developed from the "Crescent Wonton" from the Southern and Northern Dynasties to the Tang Dynasty and the "Double-horned Dried Meat" in the Southern Song Dynasty, with a history of 1400 years. According to the historical records of the Qing Dynasty: "On New Year's Day, when people are happy, they will get together and leave, such as eating flat food and taking the meaning of young friends." He also said: "Every year on the first day of the Lunar New Year, no matter rich or poor, white bread jiaozi is used, which is called cooking cakes, and it is the same all over the country. A rich family is hidden in gold and silver treasures. If it succeeds, those who provide food for their families will be lucky in the end. " This shows that people eat jiaozi in the Spring Festival, which means good luck, to show that they will bid farewell to the old and welcome the new. "Clear Money", edited by best friend Tsui Hark, said: "There is stuffing in it, or powder horn-both steamed and fried can be eaten, and the boiled soup is called jiaozi." For thousands of years, jiaozi, as a New Year's food, has been loved by people and spread to this day.

The Historical Development of jiaozi

Jiaozi was called "Joule" in Song Dynasty, which is the etymology of the word "Jiaozi" in later generations. This way of writing, in the following Yuan, Ming, Qing and Republic of China, we can still see that the Yuan Dynasty called jiaozi "flat food". During the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, Shenbang's "Wan Bu Miscellaneous Notes" recorded: "New Year's Day, New Year's greetings, making plaque food." Liu Ruoyu's "Proceedings" records: "Eating fruit snacks is also a plaque on the first day of the New Year's Day." The "plaque" of the "plaque food" in the Yuan and Ming Dynasties is now commonly used as "ping". A kind of "flat food" may come from Mongolian.

According to "Guangya" written by Zhang Yi, wei ren of the Three Kingdoms, there was a crescent-shaped food called "Wonton" at that time, which was basically similar to the shape of jiaozi now. By the time of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, wonton had been "shaped like a crescent moon, and it was delicious all over the world". Presumably, when jiaozi cooked it, he didn't take it out and eat it alone, but put it in a bowl with the soup, so people called jiaozi "wonton" at that time. This way of eating is still popular in some areas of China. For example, when people from Henan and Shaanxi eat jiaozi, they should put some small ingredients such as coriander, chopped green onion, shrimp skin and leek in the soup.

By about the Tang Dynasty, jiaozi had become exactly the same as jiaozi now, so it was fished out and put on a plate to eat by itself.

Jiaozi was called "Joule" in Song Dynasty, which is the etymology of the word "Jiaozi" in later generations. This kind of writing can still be seen in the following Yuan, Ming, Qing and Republic of China.

Jiaozi was called a "flat food" in the Yuan Dynasty. During the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, Shenbang's "Wan Bu Miscellaneous Notes" recorded: "New Year's Day, New Year's greetings, making plaque food." Liu Ruoyu's "Proceedings" records: "Eating fruit snacks is also a plaque on the first day of the New Year's Day." The "plaque" of the "plaque food" in the Yuan and Ming Dynasties is now commonly used as "ping". A kind of "flat food" may come from Mongolian.

Some new names about jiaozi appeared in Qing Dynasty, such as "jiaozi", "Water Snack" and "Boiled Bean". The increase of jiaozi's name indicates that its spreading area is expanding, and the custom of eating jiaozi during the Spring Festival has become quite popular in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Generally, jiaozi should wrap it up before New Year's Eve 12, and eat it at midnight. At this time, it is the beginning of the first day of the first lunar month. Eating jiaozi means "making friends when you are young", and "Zi" is homophonic with "jiaozi", which means "reunion" and "good luck". There are many legends about eating jiaozi in the New Year. In addition, it is said that eating jiaozi's folk language is related to Nu Wa's making people. When Nuwa soil caused people, the ears of loess people were easily frozen off because of the cold weather. In order to prevent the ear from being fixed, Nuwa put a small eye on the ear, tied it with a thin thread, and put the other end of the thread in the mouth of the loess man to bite, so that the ear would be fine. In order to commemorate the achievements of Nu Wa, ordinary people wrapped jiaozi, molded adult ears with flour, wrapped them with stuffing (thread) and ate them with their mouths.

suggestion

Jiaozi, formerly known as Joule, is said to have been first invented by Zhang Zhongjing, a medical saint in China. The story of his "Quhan Joule Decoction" has spread among the people to this day.

Zhang Zhongjing

Zhang Zhongjing was born in Nanyang in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Since childhood, he has studied medical books hard and learned from others, becoming the founder of traditional Chinese medicine. Treatise on Febrile Diseases, written by him, is a masterpiece of doctors and is regarded as a classic by doctors in past dynasties. Zhang Zhongjing has a famous saying: "if you advance, you will survive;" If you retreat, you will save the people; " You can't be a good doctor and you can't be a good doctor. "Zhang Zhongjing not only has good medical skills, but also has noble medical ethics. He took the poor and the rich seriously and saved countless lives.

According to legend, when Zhang Zhongjing was the magistrate of Changsha, he often treated the people. One year, when the local plague was prevalent, he made a cauldron at the entrance of Yamen, giving up medicine to save people, which was deeply loved by Changsha people. After Zhang Zhongjing retired from Changsha, he just caught up with the winter solstice and walked to the shore of the Baihe River in his hometown. He saw that many poor people were hungry and cold, and their ears were frozen. It turned out that typhoid fever was prevalent at that time and many people died. He was very upset and determined to treat them. When Zhang Zhongjing came home, many people sought medical treatment. He is as busy as a bee, but he always remembers those poor people with frozen ears. He followed Changsha's example and told his disciples to build a medical shed and cauldron in an open space in Dongguan, Nanyang, and open it on the day of winter solstice to send medicine to the poor to treat their injuries.

Zhang Zhongjing's Quhan Joule Decoction is a summary of more than 300 years of clinical practice in Han Dynasty. Its practice is to put mutton, pepper and some cold-dispelling medicinal materials into a pot and cook them, then take them out and chop them up, make them into ear-shaped Joules with flour bags, put them into a pot and cook them and distribute them to patients seeking medicine. Everyone has two charming ears and a bowl of soup. After eating Quhan decoction, people feel feverish all over, their qi and blood are smooth, and their ears are warm. People eat from the solstice of winter to New Year's Eve, fighting typhoid fever and curing frozen ears.

Zhang Zhongjing didn't give up taking medicine until New Year's Eve. On the first day of New Year's Day, people celebrate the New Year and the recovery of rotten ears. They cook food for the New Year like burnt ears and eat it on the first morning. People call this kind of food "jiaozi", "jiaozi" or "flat food" and eat it on the solstice of winter and the first day of New Year to commemorate the day when Zhang Zhongjing opened the shed to deliver medicine and treat patients.

Zhang Zhongjing's history is nearly 1800 years ago, but his story of "Quhan Joule Decoction" has been widely circulated among the people. On the solstice of winter and the first day of New Year's Day, people eat jiaozi, and they still remember Zhang Zhongjing's kindness in their hearts. Today, we don't need charming ears to cure frozen ears, but jiaozi has become the most common and favorite food for people.

Custom culture

New Year's Eve dinner includes jiaozi. It is one of the most important contents of folk New Year in northern China. In jiaozi on the 30th, because it is an important part of festivals, many rules and established customs are stipulated. These customs are designed to cater to the needs of the New Year atmosphere.

The custom of eating jiaozi during the Spring Festival.

When it comes to China New Year, many people think of getting together as a family to pack jiaozi. Jiaozi is a must at the dinner table. Especially in the north of China, eating jiaozi in jiaozi has become an important activity for most families to celebrate New Year's Eve. As the saying goes: "It's freezing in the cold, so eat jiaozi in the New Year." China New Year is the biggest festival in China. In order to have a good year, the old farmers began to get busy as soon as they entered the threshold of the twelfth lunar month. Starting from the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, commonly known as "off-year", the countdown to the New Year begins, lanterns are decorated, couplets are put up, and the courtyard is cleaned to prepare for a reunion year for distant relatives. on Chinese New Year's Eve