What are zongzi? 粽子

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 7^th, 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.

"Oldest traditional food found in Jiangxi tomb." . Xinhua News Agency, 8 June 2005. Web. 15 June 2014. <http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-06/08/content_3059901.htm>.

Sima, Qian, and Burton Watson. Records of the grand historian: Han dynasty. Rev. ed. Hong Kong u.a.: Columbia Univ. Press, 1993. Print.