There is a custom of eating spring cakes in the north, and spring cakes in the northeast and Beijing are the best. People call this custom "playing spring". Common spring cakes are shepherd's purse spring cakes, fried shredded pork spring cakes and so on. Beginning of spring eats spring cakes to welcome spring and pray for a bumper harvest.

The earliest spring cakes were pancakes baked or steamed with wheat flour. When eating, it is often eaten with fried vegetables such as bean sprouts, spinach, leeks and vermicelli, or with spring cakes and Chinese cabbage. Legend has it that eating spring cakes and all kinds of vegetables wrapped in them will make farm animals flourish. Some areas believe that eating spring cakes wrapped in celery and leeks will make people work harder, live longer and have a more prosperous family business. With the development of time, the shape and eating time of spring cakes vary from place to place.