The custom of eating jiaozi dates back to the Eastern Han Dynasty. According to legend, Zhang Zhongjing, a doctor in Nanyang, was originally a medical officer, and it was a snowy winter when he retired from his hometown. He saw that the villagers in Nanyang were suffering from cold and hunger, and many people's ears were frozen and rotten. So he asked his disciples to set up a medical shed in Guandong, Nanyang, put mutton, peppers and some cold-dispelling herbs in a pot to cook, take them out and chop them up, knead them into the shape of ears with a leather bag, then put them down and cook them in a pot to make "soup for dispelling cold and correcting ears" for the villagers to eat.
After the villagers took the food, their frozen ears were cured. Later, on the winter solstice, people imitated this kind of "pinching ears" to eat, saying that eating jiaozi on the winter solstice did not freeze people. Up to now, there is still a folk song in Nanyang, which says, "The winter solstice misbehaves the jiaozi bowl, and nobody cares if you freeze your ears.".
Other legends and stories
According to legend, when Liang Wudi was in the Six Dynasties, the old name of Nanjing was Jiankang City. One day, an old man presented a tree species to Emperor Liang, saying that the tree species were collected from deep valleys in southern Xinjiang, which had gathered the aura of heaven and earth. If you take good care of them, you will be able to bless the girder. Emperor Liang observed it and said, "It's just a cypress tree species." Don't believe it, plant it in the palace. In two or three years, although no one takes care of it, the tree species still take root and sprout, and are lush. A few years later, the aura condensed and was born as a tree spirit.
Emperor Liang believed in Buddhism, built temples extensively, wasted people and money, ignored state affairs, and became a monk with one heart, and the people mourned. Emperor Liang himself did not eat meat, and the people were not allowed to eat meat, nor were people allowed to sacrifice meat. The gods were unhappy when they saw that the tributes were vegetarian, and they played the jade emperor, saying that they were disrespectful to the gods, and the jade emperor was also unhappy when they heard it. Therefore, Jiankang City suffered a drought for three years as a punishment.
After Jiao's death, the Jade Emperor set up a rebellion in Hou Jing, starved Emperor Liang to death in Taicheng, and put Xu Jiao in charge of the grain for the people. The cypress tree attached to Jiao Zhen's body also guarded Jiankang City for thousands of years, but it did not fall down. The war and fire did not damage it, and it was spread to the present for the Six Dynasties. The people thanked her, named the food she invented jiaozi, ate it on the winter solstice when she was born, and offered sacrifices to the ancestors of the gods on the winter solstice to show their respect.