What are zongzi? Zongzi are a leaf wrapped dumpling made of
sticky rice. Zongzi fillings and shapes
vary from region to region. They are also
called Chinese tamales, sticky rice dumplings, zongzi in Mandarin, or joong/jung
in Cantonese and Toisanese. The
wrappings include bamboo, lotus, and banana leaves. Modernly, they are found from China through
most of Southeast Asia. This article
will only cover Chinese style zongzi, in particular the Southern Taiwan style.
Traditionally
in China, zongzi are made and eaten for the Double Five Festival (Duanwu Jie
端午節).
The festival falls on the fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar
calendar.
The origins of the Duanwu Jie,
or the Dragonboat Festival as it is known in the west, are shrouded in
legend.
The holiday is meant to
commemorate a virtuous poet statesman from the Warring States period, from the
State of Chu called Qu Yuan(
屈原343?–278?
BC.)
According to the
Sima Qian’s
Li Shi, Qu Yuan was a minister to the King of Chu.
Qu Yuan remonstrated with the king and tried
to advise him wisely.
Due to the
jealousy of a rival who turned the king against him, he was banished from
Chu.
In despair, Qu Yuan threw himself
into the Miluo River and drowned.
Sima
Qian attributes the eventual downfall of Chu and the conquest by the Qin to Qu
Yuan’s banishment, as the remaining ministers were afraid to remonstrate with
the king as openly as Qu Yuan.
(Sima,
435-443).
The
legend around Qu Yuan says that he was much loved by the common people and
after his death zongzi were made and thrown into the river so that he would
have food in the afterlife. Another version
says that the zongzi were for the fish so they would not eat Qu Yuan’s
remains. These are the versions of the
legend I heard as a child. According to
Huang, the people of Chu originally threw bamboo tubes containing rice in
river, which eventually became zongzi (Huang, 118-119). Some of the ethnic minorities in Yunnan
province still cook rice in this manner, as well as some of the aboriginal
people in Taiwan. It is possible that
this was one of the first methods of cooking grain.
Ilmann
says although Qu Yuan is from the Warring States Period, there is a sizable gap
between his suicide and the start of the dragon boat races. Predictably he does not say WHEN the dragon
boat races begin. He also says there
part of the legend may include “the idea that men who fell into the water
during the races were once regarded as sacrifices to the river god.” (Ilman,
N.P.) I have never heard this particular
part of the legend. I wonder if Qu
Yuan’s legend and the chapter in Romance of the Three Kingdoms where Zhuge
Liang crosses the river by throwing buns in lieu of people into the river to
appease the river god may have gotten mixed up.
(Luo, 694) This story will be
discussed in more depth in the meat bun article. Who knows, maybe people were sacrificed to
rivers throughout medieval China. My
senior thesis was about the cannibalistic nature of traditional Chinese culture.
In
modern times, the celebration of the Double Five festival centers around zongzi
and dragon boat races. Teams row
elaborately carved and decorated canoes shaped like dragons, containing rowers,
a drummer, and zongzi. They race to an
endpoint where the zongzi are thrown into the water, then race back to the
starting line. The drumming not only
keeps in the rowers synchronized but is also meant to frighten away any evil
spirits.
In
any event, there is archeological evidence of zongzi as grave offerings. In 2005, the Xinhua News (China’s official
news agency) reported that archeologists found zongzi in a tomb in Jiangxi (a
province in Southern China). The tomb
dates back to 1274 AD (Southern Song Dynasty).
The article does not mention what the bamboo leaves actually contain. The shape described resembles the ones I
learned how make as a child.
So¸ there
existed some sort of leaf wrapped dumpling in China, during the period covered
by the SCA, whose outward appearance at least resembles the dumplings that people
still make today and can be found in many Chinese grocery stores. I chose to make these dumplings because they
are in keeping with the festival theme of the event. This year Duanwu Jie fell on June 2,
2014. Our event was on June 7th,
so it was also seasonally appropriate.
The
question remains, what is in them?
The
single commonality of zongzi from the various parts of China as well as
Southeast Asia is that they all contain sticky rice. Some versions are just plain sticky rice, which
can be dipped in sugar or eaten with sugar syrup, but they all have sticky rice
in them. So, I just extrapolated that
zongzi in period also contained sticky rice.
The truth is I have no idea, but I had to start somewhere. The other common denominator among modern
Chinese zongzi is that the fillings tend to consist of dried or preserved
foods, like beans, cured meats, dried mushrooms, shrimp to name just a few
examples. These ingredients makes sense
since the festival falls usually in late spring or early summer, so while there
is fresh food available people are still relying on winter stores.
I
chose to make a sweet version for a few reasons. The first reason is because I needed a
dessert item aside from fresh fruit. The
second was for budgetary concerns. It
doesn’t get much cheaper than rice and beans.
Also, sticky rice is notoriously filling. When I visited China in 2002, I went to the
Xian. The tour took us to the Xian city
gates, which were built in the Tang dynasty.
Our tour guide explained that the city walls were made from a
combination of pounded dirt mixed with sticky rice. Yes, sticky rice is solid enough to be used
as building material. It is true that it
will sit like a brick in your stomach.
Due to its solidity, eating sticky rice is not recommended prior to
heavy exercise. Since, it was a dessert item;
I could serve them after the heavy fighting was done, because I did not want to
deal with fighters with tummyaches!
And
finally, adzuki bean, called red bean in Chinese, is the second oldest legume
after soybean grown in China (Huang, 40).
While, I cannot find documentation for red bean paste, it doesn’t get
much simpler than boiled mashed beans, with sugar and oil. Additionally, moon cakes are found in period
and bean paste is one the traditional fillings for them. (Ilmann, N.P.) Bean paste is also a much
simpler assumption for the filling than the complicated meat based savory fillings
many other types of zongzi contain. However,the
choice of adzuki bean paste may not have been a good choice for the season,
since adzuki beans are considered a hot element, but I was already using mung
bean sprouts in another dish.
My
personal feeling is, based on the lack of recipes for this item outside of
internet blogs, zongzi are a very traditional and “low” class or street food
type of food. There are no recipes
because people learned how to make these from their families. There is no need for recipes because
“everyone” knows what they are and how and to make them. I think it is with the advent of internet
that people are slowly writing these family recipes and sharing them. Also, with the global community and
increasing number of overseas Chinese communities, the “younger” generation is
beginning to record these recipes and techniques for their children and
friends, and to share with the curious before they are lost.
*Note:
The Chinese is transliterated in this article using pinyin (the official system
in mainland China) and Mandarin pronunciation, unless otherwise stated.
Thank
you everyone who helped with the fact checking and editing.
This
“documentation” is by no means complete or even 100% accurate.
I am simply sharing all the information I
currently have.
Much of it is
conjecture, folklore, and common knowledge.
My mom told me.
“It is known,
khalessi.”
I checked and compared notes
with Lady Ceandra Paizi mka Susan Troy and Lady Li Anhua mka Maxine Lee, and
they both remember similar stories.
However, we are Chinese Americans with families from Southern
China.
Lady Li and I wrap ours
differently.
I suspect that Lady Paizi
does as well.
Recipe:
https://oriquilt.blogspot.com/2019/02/two-zongzi-recipes-sweet-savory.html
Editing & Fact checking & Photography Assistance provide by:
Lady Asa in Svarta – editor extraordinaire- for your help in
editing & revising innumerable drafts.
Lady Ceandra Paizi & Lady Li Anhua for double checking
my facts, and confirming common knowledge and legends.
Photo courtesy of Barbara the Nearly Naked Frisian mka
Barbara Krooss.
Bibliography
Anderson,
E. N. The food of China. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1988. Print.
llmann,
Thomas O., and Karen Margolis. The land of the five flavors: a cultural
history of Chinese cuisine. New York: Columbia University Press, 2010.
Kindle.
Huang,
H. T.. Biology and biological technology: part 5 : fermentations and food
science. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000. Print.
Luo,
Guanzhong, and Moss Roberts. Three kingdoms: classic novel in four volumes.
Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 20011995. Print.
Newman,
Jacqueline M.. Food culture in China. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press,
2004. Print.
Sima,
Qian, and Burton Watson. Records of the grand historian: Han dynasty.
Rev. ed. Hong Kong u.a.: Columbia Univ. Press, 1993. Print.
