Dumpling is a traditional Chinese food. It is filled with dough and shaped like a half-moon or ingot. The wrapped dumplings can be made into steamed dumplings, fried dumplings or soup dumplings.

Folklore about "dumplings"

There are many different versions in folklore. Here are some widely circulated versions:

(1 ) to commemorate Nuwa’s achievements in creating human beings. According to legend, when Nuwa created humans, the biggest difficulty was that their ears kept falling off. Therefore, Nuwa pierced the ears of the natives, tied them with thin threads, and bit the threads in the people's mouths. People make dumplings for this purpose, shape them into the shape of human ears with dough, fill them with stuffing, and eat them with their mouths. (2) To commemorate the achievements of Zhang Zhongjing, a famous doctor of the Eastern Han Dynasty. Zhang Zhongjing once invented a "Jiao Er Decoction to dispel cold" and gave it to people whose ears were frostbitten. He put mutton, chili peppers and some anti-cold medicinal materials in a pot and boiled them. After cooking, he took them out and chopped them into pieces, then wrapped them in dough into ear-shaped "Jiao Er" and put them in the pot. After people ate Jiao Er and drank the cold dispelling soup, their whole body felt warm and their ears felt hot. Zhang Zhongjing's medicine-giving campaign lasted from the winter solstice to the New Year's Eve. On the first day of the Lunar New Year, people celebrate the New Year and the recovery of rotten ears. They make New Year's food like Jiao Er and eat it in the morning. People call this food "dumpling ears", "dumplings" or "partial eclipse" and eat it on the winter solstice and the first day of the new year to commemorate the day when Zhang Zhongjing opened shed medicine and cured patients.

(3) A story about a chef and a foolish king. Once upon a time, a foolish king listened to the slander of the traitor Pan Qi and wanted to live forever by eating a hundred kinds of rice. Chefs from all over the country were summoned to the capital to compete. Chef Su Qiaosheng eventually stayed to cook for the emperor. But when he reached the last option, Su Qiaosheng suddenly ran out of ideas. When he was depressed, he saw the remaining mutton and vegetables on the table, so he picked up a knife and chopped the mutton and vegetables together, randomly added seasonings, wrapped many small corners in white bread, and then cooked them in a pot of boiling water. He thought he would be punished for this, but the emperor was very satisfied and asked for his name.

Su Qiaosheng looked at this flat thing and replied casually: "This is the best folk product - flat food." In order to commemorate this chef, later generations learned to wrap flat food and eat it.