Although the rice dumplings are small, they have been used throughout ancient and modern times, showing the inheritance and beauty of Chinese culture. What did ancient rice dumplings look like? What creative inspiration does zongzi bring to people? Let’s take a look at the ingenuity of rice dumplings through the ages.
What did ancient rice dumplings look like? In the De'an County Museum in Jiujiang, Jiangxi, there is a pair of rice dumplings unearthed from ancient tombs of the Southern Song Dynasty. According to the inscriptions on the ancient tomb, the owner of the tomb, Zhou, was buried in 1274 AD, 750 years ago.
Li Jia, commentator of De’an County Museum, Jiujiang City, Jiangxi Province:The tomb owner may have liked eating rice dumplings during his lifetime, so he brought the rice dumplings to the coffin. In ancient times, rice dumplings were placed in coffins to express condolences, and the rice dumplings were placed in pairs, which also had a beautiful meaning.
What kind of utensils were used to cook rice dumplings in ancient times? At the Kaizhou Museum in Chongqing, the Eastern Han Dynasty bronze steamer, a national first-class cultural relic on display, is a bronze vessel used for cooking food.
Liu Bingshu, deputy director of Kaizhou District Museum: This The upper part of the utensil is a steamer and the lower part is a cauldron, with 11 wall holes of different sizes in the middle. When using it, we fill the cauldron below with water, and then put the foodPut it in this steamer, then put this steamer on top of this cauldron, and put the whole thing on the fire and it can be used. In ancient times, people steamed food by wrapping meat in leaves, which is similar to the way we steam rice dumplings during the Dragon Boat Festival today.
Zongzi is not only a food for the Dragon Boat Festival, in the Tang Dynasty, it has become a festival and a symbol of the four seasons. Delicious snacks appeared in the market. Nowadays in Shaanxi, there are nine rice dumplings that were popular in the Tang Dynasty. As the name suggests, there are nine rice dumplings, one large and eight small, with the big one on top and the small one on the bottom. They are connected in a string and tied with silk threads of nine colors. They are colorful. Delicious and beautiful.
Wang Zhi, Deputy Director of the Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center of Xi’an City, Shaanxi Province:
strong>The Emperor Ming of the Tang Dynasty held a banquet for all his ministers and presented them with nine rice dumplings. Because of this incident, Emperor Ming of the Tang Dynasty even wrote a poem. The poem says, "Flowers compete with each other in four seasons, and nine rice dumplings compete with each other."
For thousands of years, people have given various ingenuities to Zongzi.
Crabs are abundant in Zhujia Village, Lishui District, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, and local villagers thought of using them Slender herbs are woven into crab-like rice dumplings.
Wu Zhiping, inheritor of intangible cultural heritage in Lishui District, Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province: Two very important techniques are to hang it up and put it on again, so that it looks like a mat. It is double-layered and hollow inside.
Gently pull both sides of the braided rice dumplings, then fill them with glutinous rice and red beans When the fillings are filled and the mouth is sealed, the lifelike crab rice dumplings are born.
The shape of rice dumplings also brings a lot of inspiration to people.
- Jingdezhen, the millennium porcelain capital of Jiangxi, launched a Ceramic rice dumplings during the Dragon Boat Festival, used as pen holders or flower utensils, as foodThings become practical.
- Dough sculpture artists in Yantai, Shandong Province, create UniqueDough-shaped rice dumplings.
Pastry chef Qu Baole: Jiaodong dough sculptures are a famous local intangible cultural heritage. For many important festivals, we will make dough sculptures to add to the festive atmosphere.
(Headquarters reporters Zhao Jing, Cao Yu, Zhao Xuefeng, Zhang Shuang, Qin Yi)
