From the late Ming and early Qing dynasties to the present, Cixi ate rice cakes on the winter solstice, and Hangzhou people also liked to eat rice cakes on the winter solstice.

2. Every winter solstice, make three meals of rice cakes with different tastes, eat rice cakes on the winter solstice, and get old and lucky. In Sichuan, it is the time to eat mutton soup from winter solstice, and mutton is the first tonic in winter. In the two lakes region, red beans and glutinous rice must be eaten on the solstice in winter. In many parts of northern China, it is a custom to eat jiaozi every winter solstice.

Eat barbecue and ginger rice on the solstice in winter. On the day of winter solstice, there is a folk proverb in the south, which is commonly known as "adding years". Hakka people think that the water tastes the most mellow on the solstice in winter, so it has become a custom for Hakka people to make wine on the solstice in winter.