Introduction
The traditional Chinese festival shows the power of unity with love as a bond. It demonstrates strong hometown love, affection, or love. For example:
- Qingming Festival pays respect to ancestors and remembers the martyrs, and is also a love festival for certain ethnic minorities
- Dragon Boat Festival is a festival where married daughters return to their mothers’ homes and engaged boys go to their mothers-in-law’s homes to pay respects
- Mid-Autumn Festival is a reunion festival where the Moon is full on the half of the earthly Moon, hoping that all families will be reunited.
Learning Outcome
After learning through this model, learners should be able to:
- Learn about the differences in diet during festivals in different regions of China.
- The specific performance of different dietary patterns at the Dragon Boat Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival.
Learning content
Chinese culture has a history of 5,000 years. To foreigners, the Chinese celebrate the festival by eating dumplings and zongzi, but in China, the way to celebrate the festival and the diet are very different. As the saying goes, “different customs and traditions are different from one hundred miles to another,” and different geographical environments create different customs and traditions. However, different provinces and even counties may have different food habits. In China, people like to discuss and compare the difference between the north and the south. In addition to the well-known “eat rice in the south, eat noodles in the north”, there are many interesting differences in the food culture between the south and the north on traditional holidays. The most typical dietary differences in festivals are reflected in the Dragon Boat Festival and the Mid-Autumn Festival.
The varieties of zongzi are mainly divided into salty zongzi in the south and sweet zongzi in the north. In addition, many types of mooncakes are represented, such as Guangdong mooncakes represented in and around Guangzhou, Su-style mooncakes represented in the south, and Beijing mooncakes represented in northern China.
ZONG ZI
The southern region is used to eating the salty dumplings made with minced meat or duck egg yolk, while the northern region likes to put jujube inside the dumplings to add sweetness. In fact, the different flavors of zongzi developed from ancient times to the present. The reason why people in the north prefer to use jujube as stuffing for zongzi is that in ancient times, the communication between the north and the South was not smooth. Jujube was abundant in the north, while the south lacked the climate and soil needed for the growth of jujube trees. It was very difficult to transport the jujube from the north across the Wuling mountains to the south. Therefore, people in the north can only use local materials, choosing dates rich in their region as the stuffing in the zongzi.
MOON CAKE
Moon cake, also known as moon ball, harvest cake, reunion cake, etc., is one of the traditional Chinese food of the Han nationality. It was originally used as an offering to worship the moon god. ( Xu, L., Chen, and Xu, L., 2018)) I remember when I was a child, every Mid-Autumn Festival, my grandparents would ask me and my younger brothers and sisters to hold moon cakes together to bow to the moon three times, on behalf of the worship of the moon god. In China, there are three typical types of moon cakes. The first is represented by the Guangzhou region and its vicinity of the Guangzhou-style moon cakes. Cantonese style moon cakes are mainly made with fruit or red beans or salted egg yolk. The shape of the Cantonese moon cake is also the most delicate, people will make the moon cake into a flower image, and in the moon cake skin carved out exquisite patterns and words. The Southern region as a representative of the Su style moon cake is in the moon cake bread with meat. The exterior is less elaborate but the white skin is printed with red letters and sprinkled with sesame seeds. I’ve been in Shanghai for the Mid-Autumn Festival and I’ve seen people queuing outside in 30 degree heat for 3 or 4 hours or more just to buy a box of fresh meat mooncakes. Finally, there are Beijing style moon cakes, which are popular in the north. The shape of their mooncakes is similar to that of the Su style, which is relatively simple and looks like baozi, but with different fillings. Moon cakes in the north are mostly sweet, mainly put rock sugar, peanut kernels. The variety is relatively unitary.
Task:
Please summarize topics and concepts, either on paper, orally, via video, or audio. You can post your work on the WordPress site. If you are not confortable to use WordPress, you can also submit your work by using google doc.
Grading: Please refer to the rubric at the end on how the instructor will grade your work. This activity will be worth 15 % of your grade.
Reference:
Xu, G., Chen, Y., Xu, L. (2018). Traditional Festivals. In: Xu, G., Chen, Y., Xu, L. (eds) Introduction to Chinese Culture. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. Retrieved from https://doi-org.ezproxy.library.uvic.ca/10.1007/978-981-10-8156-9_10
Youtube video:
- Yo-Yo tried 3 different kinds of Zongzi for Duanwu Festival: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EchhyWSkdAs
- Mooncake Taste Test: Mooncake Mayhem w/ Different Makers from Different Regions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBf0OEftI4Q
