The custom of eating glutinous rice balls on the Lantern Festival was formed in the Song Dynasty. According to records, in the Tang Dynasty, people ate "flour cocoons" during the Lantern Festival, and in the Southern Song Dynasty, "lactose jiaozi" appeared, which should be the predecessor of glutinous rice balls. In the Ming Dynasty, it was named Yuanxiao.

It is said that during the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, there was a maid named Yuanxiao in the palace. She lived in seclusion in the palace for many years, missing her parents and crying all day. Dong Fangshuo was determined to help her, so he lied to Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty that the Jade Emperor ordered the burning of Chang 'an on the 15th day of the first month. The only way to escape from the disaster is to let the "Lantern Girl" be a jiaozi that Vulcan likes, and all the subjects put lanterns on it. With the permission of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the girl finally met her family during the Lantern Festival. Since then, the Lantern Festival has been formed, and the custom of eating jiaozi during the Lantern Festival has also spread at this time.

Lantern Festival, also known as Shangyuan Festival. According to records, the Lantern Festival appeared in the Han Dynasty. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, it was called three traditional folk festivals in China together with the Spring Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival, with a history of more than 2,000 years.

The glutinous rice jiaozi is round in shape and solid inside. They are called Yuanxiao in the north and Tangyuan in the south. Eating glutinous rice balls on the Lantern Festival not only means celebrating family reunion, but also has the health-preserving effects of keeping out the cold, strengthening the spleen and stomach, and benefiting qi. The raw material of Yuanxiao is mainly glutinous rice. Compendium of Materia Medica points out that glutinous rice. Sweet in taste and warm in nature. After eating, it can nourish human blood and spleen and stomach.