【Editor’s note]
How much do you know about the Spring Festival?
Standing at the beginning of 2019, which is changing at a second speed, we ask an "old-fashioned" question. As many people know, there are various manners and customs in the Spring Festival, such as endless dinners and parties that can’t be pushed off, and the resulting nostalgia and social embarrassment … …
But you know what? The Spring Festival is not only a festival, but also contains social changes, economic development, and every tiny change you bring. On February 4, 2019, Zhongxin.com launched a series of planning "Do you know the Spring Festival", trying to outline the great changes in China’s social landscape through the little changes you and I have made in the Spring Festival.
Chinanews. com client Beijing, February 4 th:[Do you know the Spring Festival]How many stories and emotions does Chinese have to eat this meal every year?
Author: Yuan Xiuyue
For Chinese, the Spring Festival is the most grand festival of the year. After a busy year, people stopped to have a rest. Mary, Vivian and David from Beishangguang went home one after another and became Cui Hua, Dani and Ergouzi. As Lu Xun said, even in the sky, there is a weather that will come to the New Year.
Chinese pays special attention to eating. The most ceremonial thing in the Spring Festival is the New Year’s Eve. The whole family get together neatly, watch the Spring Festival Gala while eating, and then give out red envelopes and say something auspicious to win a good title for the coming year. This meal not only has delicious food, but also carries many stories and emotions, as well as decades of changes.
Everything can be bought at the door.
Although old Shanghai is a "ten-mile foreign market", the customs of the New Year have always been very traditional and particular. It is said that Shanghainese will eat some delicious foods, such as peanuts (longevity fruit), egg dumplings (gold ingot), baked bran (homophonic) and wonton (gold ingot).
As the saying goes: "It’s spring in the first month of the New Year, and farmers are happiest when they are ripe. After eating the rice cake, they will drink sugar tea and then eat shepherd’s purse dumplings and wonton."
At the beginning of the New Year’s Eve, cold dishes, such as Italian food and boiled chicken, are served first, then hot dishes, fish and shrimp, and, indispensable, soup. Chen Rongfu, 68, said that no matter what you cook, you must first prepare old duck soup and old hen soup, which are loved by adults and children.
Data Map: The three generations of the Chinese-born Lord Chen Zuoyi in the Kingdom of Cambodia ate "New Year’s Eve". China News Service reporter Huang Yaohui photo
Every year, Chen Rongfu and his wife prepare the New Year’s Eve dinner. Even if they eat it, they have to prepare 20 dishes.
They don’t use online shopping, and they are not used to fresh supermarkets that are fashionable among young people. Instead, they prefer to go to various vegetable markets to find the most affordable ingredients. A long time ago, they began to prepare materials for the New Year’s Eve dinner. They bought some meat today and some dry goods tomorrow. In recent years, the refrigerators have become bigger and bigger.
I didn’t dare to think about this before. Chen Rongfu said that before the Spring Festival, every household hung pickles, and the vegetable seller would help pickle them and hang them at home to dry, so that they wouldn’t go bad easily.
From 1950s to 1980s, materials were scarce, and many things were supplied by ticket. Chen Rongfu recalled that every new year, every household will have a card, and there are many people in the family, and the number will be a little more.
Anyone who has some fish and meat at home is usually left for guests to eat. "Someone came to be a guest, and I took all these things out of my family. Anyway, it doesn’t matter if the door is closed." Chen Rongfu said.
I don’t need it at all now. I string relatives during the New Year, and the dishes of every household are similar.
When he was young, Chen Rongfu was a sailor and drifted around all year round. At that time, the traffic was underdeveloped, the price gap between places was relatively large, and the richness of goods was also different.
At that time, the most common thing he did was to carry special products back from all over the country, and every time it was a big bag. But now, Chen Rongfu has long lost this habit, and everything can be bought at the door, which is not worth it.
The only thing that does not change on New Year’s Eve is bean buns.
Shexian County, Handan City, Hebei Province is located at the eastern foot of Taihang Mountain, in a mountainous area, and is rich in fruit. Zanthoxylum bungeanum, walnut and persimmon are called "Three Treasures in Shexian County". Every new year, of course, they are indispensable in the New Year’s Eve dinner.
In the northeast, there is a custom of eating sticky bean buns during the Spring Festival. Using yellow wheat to make the skin and wrapping it with bean stuffing made of various beans can not only resist hunger, but also have a good meaning. In Shexian County, Hebei Province, you should also eat bean bags during the New Year. But unlike the Northeast, they used to use corn flour as the skin, but now they use white flour as the skin. There are both red beans and Shexian specialties in the stuffing — — Persimmon.
Yang Linzhen, 61, has many years of experience in making bean curd. She said that the New Year’s Eve dinner in the village is very simple. Cook some jiaozi, stir-fry some dishes, and then steamed bread with bean curd. Before the Chinese New Year, every household should steam a lot of steamed buns and bean bags and eat them until the Lantern Festival.
The essence of bean curd lies in the stuffing. After persimmon is peeled, it can be made into persimmon cake, and the persimmon peel is cooked with red beans to make the stuffing of bean curd. Old people like to eat this kind of bean bag, which is soft, sweet and not greasy, and has the smell of persimmon.
There are many people in Yang Linzhen’s family. Every New Year, she will steam steamed buns and bean bags in the cauldron of the local stove, and she can cook fifty or sixty at a time.
In the past, many people planted persimmon trees at home, but in recent years, persimmon trees have become less and less. Yang Linzhen said that farming at home made less money, young people went out to work, persimmon trees were left unattended and slowly died. The persimmon that Yang Linzhen ate at home was still grafted from the black jujube tree.
For decades, the New Year’s Eve dinner of Yang Linzhen’s family has changed a lot, and the only constant is this bean bag.
Data Map: On New Year’s Eve, citizens of Huludao, Liaoning Province enjoy a sumptuous New Year’s Eve dinner with their families at home. China News Agency issued by Haiyang Photo
More convenient and healthy New Year’s Eve dinner
Another Spring Festival, Song Yun of Hebei teased himself that he was going home to lose weight. Before the Chinese New Year, their family will also prepare a lot of steamed bread, bean buns, steamed dumplings with instant noodles, and cut cakes, but more of them are meat. Chopped cubes of meat are cooked, with a layer of salt on the surface.
It is also popular to send meat, donkey meat, beef and mutton, pork and so on. Zhang Yun said that during the Chinese New Year, almost all people eat meat and few vegetables.
Therefore, every New Year, Song Yun doesn’t eat much. He will buy a box of oranges at home and finish them in a few days.
Zhang Yun’s father died young, and his two sisters got married one after another, leaving only him and his mother for the New Year. If these years have changed, it is that there are fewer and fewer people. At the New Year’s Eve, their home was exceptionally clean.
The function of the New Year’s Eve dinner is fading away, and more people are thinking about how to eat conveniently and healthily.
"It has been the same for more than 20 years, nothing has changed, just being a vegetarian." Meng Zhang, from Hubei, said that on New Year’s Eve in recent years, his family always prepared more vegetarian dishes. Qiu Chen of Nanchang, Jiangxi Province also said that their New Year’s Eve dinner is getting simpler and simpler. Every day, everyone is tired of eating big fish and big meat.
Cooking and cooking in the New Year is also a physical activity for parents. In order not to make New Year’s Eve a burden, many people are trying to find a way. In the 1990s, it became popular for people in the city to go to restaurants for New Year’s Eve dinner. In recent years, more and more families have gone out for New Year’s Eve dinner. Half a month in advance, many restaurants have been booked out for the New Year’s Eve dinner, and it is hard to find a table for popular restaurants.
In order to save trouble, some people buy New Year’s Eve dinner online. Online shopping for semi-finished New Year’s Eve dinner has also become a new choice for many young people after 80 s and 90 s.
"On this day of the Spring Festival, it is a festival, and they have to be prepared for the excitement. It’s just that when I’m old, it’s hard work to cook and cook. " A netizen bought a set of Shanghai-style New Year’s Eve dinner for his parents. He said that semi-finished dishes are convenient and can be cooked quickly, and it can save effort during the New Year.
Good boys don’t make money on New Year’s Eve.
Customs vary from place to place in Fujian Province, and New Year’s Eve is also very particular. Rice cakes, seafood, tofu and spinach are common ones. Xie Jia, a 23-year-old, said that every year during the Chinese New Year, my mother would prepare many dishes, such as braised pork, sausage, bacon, preserved duck, jiaozi and soup, which are available every year, and others would be added depending on the situation.
Although living conditions are better now, Xie Jia especially misses the Spring Festival when she was a child. In her memory, the New Year’s Eve dinner used to be more traditional, but now it is more casual. Although the previous New Year’s Eve dinner was not as rich as it is now, it was more grand and formal, and the annual flavor was more sufficient.
Chen Rongfu always misses the Spring Festival when he was a child. He said that when I was a child, the Spring Festival was like a reward. I could wear new clothes, eat delicious food, set off firecrackers and not go to school, so I looked forward to the Spring Festival every day.
Nowadays, children have grown up and gone out to work, and Shanghai can’t set off firecrackers casually. The New Year seems deserted. But the good news is that the material conditions are really much better.
When he was young, he seldom went home for the New Year. Really homesick, just sing a song to solve it. Now with the high-speed rail, the old couple can go to Beijing on business with their son. With video calling, I can meet my son every day.
There is an old saying in Fuzhou, Fujian — — "Good kids don’t make money" means that good kids don’t make money on New Year’s Eve. Before New Year’s Eve, Fuzhou people who are working in business will definitely go back to reunite with their families and have a New Year’s Eve dinner together. On New Year’s Eve, there will be no visits, so the whole family should get together, and we can’t have dinner if people are not together.
For decades, perhaps the taste of the year is not as full as before, and the New Year’s Eve dinner is also casual, but what remains unchanged is the sincerity of returning home and reuniting.
We no longer buy new year’s goods in big bags and small bags, because of the popularity of e-commerce, we can also buy local specialties at our doorstep; I no longer look forward to the big fish and big meat dinner once a year, because people pay more attention to how to eat healthier … …
It’s been a hard year. Let’s have a good meal with our family. This is the real meaning of the New Year’s Eve. (At the request of the interviewee, some characters in the text are pseudonyms) (End)
