Tangyuan, one of the representatives of traditional snacks in China, is a spherical food made of glutinous rice flour. There are usually fillings, which are cooked and eaten with soup. At the same time, it is also the most distinctive food of the Lantern Festival with a long history.
However, jiaozi symbolizes better family reunion. Eating jiaozi in the new year means family happiness, so it is a must-have food for the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first month. In some areas in the south, people will also get used to eating glutinous rice balls during the Spring Festival instead of jiaozi.
Tangyuan originated in the Song Dynasty in China. At that time, Mingzhou (now Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province) began to eat a novel food, which used black sesame, lard and sugar as raw materials. First, black sesame seeds are ground into powder, then lard and sugar are put into the mixture and kneaded into balls to make stuffing, and glutinous rice flour is used to knead into circles. When cooked, it tastes sweet and delicious. Because this kind of dumpling cooked in a pot floats and sinks, it was originally called "floating Zi Yuan", and later it was renamed as dumpling.