The Chinese nation has a splendid culinary civilization, a cultural tradition that is fully embodied in the "New Year's Eve Dinner" of the Spring Festival. On New Year's Eve, families gather to enjoy this special meal. In northern China, people make dumplings, while in the south, they prepare rice cakes. The dumplings are shaped like "ingots," and the rice cakes are a homophone for "a higher year," both considered auspicious signs of good fortune.
The traditions surrounding the "New Year's Eve Dinner" vary in their customs.
Beijingers make dumplings with a filling that is mostly meat and little vegetable, making each one a "meatball." Tianjin residents prefer a juicy filling, complete with water, egg, sesame oil, and soy sauce, for a deliciously fresh bite. People in the Northeast are more creative, mincing the meat and soaking it in a rich broth before wrapping it, creating a unique flavor.
When it comes to eating rice cakes, there is also a wide variety of styles.
People in the north are accustomed to white rice cakes. In northern towns and villages, yellow millet cakes are made. In the Jiangnan region, wet-milled rice cakes are popular. Ethnic minorities in the southwest enjoy sticky rice cakes, while our compatriots in Taiwan love red tortoise cakes. The shapes of the rice cakes also have different names: those about a foot square are called "square-head cakes," those shaped like ingots are "cake ingots," long and narrow ones are "strip-head cakes," and wide ones are named "half-strip cakes."
The dishes for the New Year's Eve dinner also differ greatly according to local customs.
Suzhou people like to choose vegetables with auspicious names, such as soybean sprouts, which are called "Ruyi Cai" (As-You-Wish Vegetable), peanuts called "Changsheng Guo" (Long-Life Fruit), and shepherd's purse, which sounds like "gathering wealth." For New Year's, Nanjing people must have a "cold vegetarian dish"—a stir-fry of more than ten kinds of vegetables, including spinach, celery, pickled cabbage, daylily, wood ear, and shredded carrots, cooked in vegetable oil. It is a dish that is both refreshing and cuts through the grease. Shanghainese households must serve a plate of "Dan Jiao" (Egg Horns), which are dumplings with a skin made from egg batter and a fresh meat filling, both beautiful and delicious. On Shaoxing's New Year's Eve, there is a bowl of "Xiang Dong Rou" (Salted Fish and Pork Jelly), with a piece of white salted fish on top, signifying "to have hopes and aspirations."
In some northern households, people also specially buy raw radishes for the New Year's Eve dinner, with each person taking a bite, an act called "Yao Chun" (biting the spring). In Fujian, every family places a bowl of New Year's rice on the altar table in the hall, adorned with juniper flowers and "Four Seasons" flowers, commonly known as "Spring Branches." In addition, many places prepare various fruits, melons, and beans for the New Year's Eve dinner, such as jujubes (for an early spring), dried persimmons (for things as you wish), almonds (for happiness to arrive), and dried tofu (for the whole family's happiness)…
As for the New Year's Eve dinner in Hunan, it can be described as rich and colorful. Traditionally, it was simply a four-dish, eight-bowl affair, but now what is served on the table is a dazzling array. It not only includes Hunan-style smoked fish and cured meat, which are rich with local flavor, but also imported fresh seafood, enriching the Hunanese menu. However, the Taoyuan large chicken, as the main course, still takes center stage, filling every household's table with its enticing aroma. Even more evocative are the fish that arrive from the Xiang, Zi, Yuan, and Li rivers, resting in oval porcelain plates. People do not touch them with fork or chopstick—not because they are not delicious, but because they symbolize the auspicious "May there be surpluses year after year (fish)."