Every time when winter solstice comes, it occurs a saying - If you don’t hold a dumpling bowl on winter solstice, no one cares if your ears are frozen off
Actually dumpling is so delicious that it doesn’t matter about the ear.
No matter how many traditional activities have disappeared, eating dumplings is definitely the most unshakable sense of Festival ceremony on the winter solstice
However, you may not know that dumplings are relevant to Chinese traditional ‘Medical saint’- Zhang Zhongjing.
Now let’s start the story between dumplings and Zhang Zhongjing.
That winter is so cold when Zhang Zhongjing retired from Changsha.
On the edge of Baihe River, Zhang Zhongjing saw many homeless people with yellow faces and thin muscles, and their clothes did not cover their bodies. Because of the cold, their ears were frozen and rotten. He felt very uncomfortable.
After returning home, because Zhang Zhongjing's reputation has long been famous all over the world, many people came to see a doctor. Zhang Zhongjing responds to every request and is very busy all day, but although many people come to see a doctor, Zhang Zhongjing still cares about those who have frozen and rotten ears.
After research, he developed a food therapy prescription that can keep out the cold, called "Quhan Jiaoer Soup".
He asked his apprentice to set up a shed in an open space in Dongguan, Nanyang, put on a big pot, and gave medicine for the poor. The opening day was the winter solstice, and the medicine he gave was "Quhan Jiaoer Soup".
Quhan Jiaoer Soup is the mixture of Mutton and some cold dispelling drugs and made in shape of ear.
Zhang shared everyone a bowl of soup, and people feel warm after eating it, so that their ears are not frozen anymore.
When Zhang Zhongjing worked in Changsha, he often saw doctors for the people at ordinary times and was very loved by the people. After retirement, the people of Changsha send representatives to visit their hometown every year.
As the saying goes, a doctor cannot cure himself. One year, Zhang Zhongjing was ill, and he knew that the lamp oil of life was about to dry.
The people who came to visit him said that Changsha has a good place and wants Zhang Zhongjing to settle there after he passed away, but the people in Nanyang hope him to stay and the two sides quarreled.
Zhang Zhongjing said, "after eating the water of Changsha, you will never forget the love of Changsha's father and father; born in Nanyang, you will never forget the upbringing of your hometown. After I die, you will carry my coffin from Nanyang to Changsha. Where the spiritual rope breaks, you can bury me.”
In that winter, Zhang Zhongjing passed away...
That day was also the winter solstice.
When the funeral team came to the place where Zhang Zhongjing gave up "Quhan Jiaoer soup" for everyone, the coffin rope suddenly broke.
According to Zhang Zhongjing's instructions, everyone beat the tomb, put down the coffin and fill the grave on site. He also built a temple in front of the grave, which is now the medical Saint temple.
Zhang Zhongjing died on the winter solstice and gave up "quhanjiao ear soup" for everyone on the winter solstice. In memory of him, everyone has to make dumplings on the winter solstice.
After years of erosion, the custom of eating dumplings on the winter solstice has been handed down.
And the type and shape of dumplings have also been greatly improved. Where there are Chinese people, there are dumplings, and dumplings have become the representative food for family reunion.
Although they all eat dumplings, the South and the North eat differently.
The north and the south are quarrelling again!
In terms of the difference between eating dumplings, most of them are boiled in the north, followed by steamed dumplings and fried dumplings. Most of the southern dumplings are fried dumplings and steamed dumplings.
The northern dumplings are big and simple, while the southern is delicate and varied.
The northern soup are separated from the dumplings, while the southern is together with the dumplings.
Dumplings is regarded as a dinner in southern while just a dish in northern.
What’s more, dumplings are regarded as a ceremonial food in the north.
Dumplings are also the homesickness sustenance of countless Chinese people going to a foreign country.
Chinese culture is broad and profound.
The north and the South have their own advantages.
Why distinguish between good food and bad food,
As long as you satisfy your taste buds,
Let your heart be filled with happiness,
That's the most important thing.
