rice cakes are mostly made of glutinous rice flour, and glutinous rice is a specialty of the south of the Yangtze River. In the north, sticky grains like glutinous rice exist, and sticky millet (commonly known as millet) was first introduced in ancient times. This kind of millet hulled powder, after steamed with water, is yellow, sticky and sweet, and it is a delicious food for people in the Yellow River valley to celebrate the harvest. The article "A Brief Introduction to the Scenery of the Imperial Capital" published during the Chongzhen period of the Ming Dynasty recorded that Beijingers at that time would "eat millet cakes on New Year's Day of the first month and celebrate the New Year's cakes". It is not difficult to see that "New Year's cake" is a homonym of "sticky cake" in the north.

There are two kinds of northern rice cakes: steamed and fried, both of which are sweet. In addition to steaming and frying, southern rice cakes are also fried in slices and boiled in soup, which are both sweet and salty. It is said that the earliest rice cakes were used for worshipping gods and ancestors at the New Year's Eve, and later became food for the Spring Festival. The rice cake is not only a kind of holiday food, but also brings people new hope with the passing of the year. As a poem in the late Qing Dynasty said, "People's hearts are high, and food is made in harmony, so that the year is better than the year, so as to pray for the year."

its making method is that glutinous rice flour is sieved with silk, and then added with water and honey to form a hard dough, and dates and chestnuts are attached to the dough, and then wrapped with bamboo leaves and steamed. This kind of glutinous rice cake has the characteristics of the Central Plains.