Eating glutinous rice balls on New Year’s Eve means reunion.

Tangyuan is a glutinous rice product commonly found on southerners’ tables. According to experts, glutinous rice balls are also called "rice dumplings" or "yuanzi" and "tuanzi", and southerners also call them "water balls" and "floating balls". When cooking glutinous rice balls, they float on the water after boiling, which is really beautiful and reminds people of a bright moon hanging in the sky.

In addition, the name of glutinous rice balls has a similar pronunciation to the word "tuanyuan", which means reunion, symbolizing the reunion, harmony and happiness of the whole family. While eating glutinous rice balls, people also look forward to a happy reunion and a happy family in the coming year.

The history of glutinous rice balls.

Probably from the historical records of the Song Dynasty, we can see the presence of glutinous rice balls in the New Year's Eve dinner. According to records, during the Tang Dynasty, people ate "cocoons" on the Lantern Festival that were "round and round".

In the Southern Song Dynasty, "lactose dumplings" appeared, which should be the predecessor of glutinous rice balls. The poem "Yuanxiao Boiled Floating Yuanzi" written by Zhou Bida in the Song Dynasty contains the line "Stars shine in dark clouds, beads float in turbid water". So glutinous rice balls are a dish that has been passed down from ancient ancestors.