Nian Gao

The northerners eatJiao Zi, but southerners like to eatNian Gao, which translates to "New Year Cake". In Chinese,Gaois a homonym for high.Nian Gaois also calledNian Nian Gao, which is a homonym for "higher each year", symbolizing progress and promotion at work and in daily life and improvement in life year by year.      

Nian Gaois a sweet, sticky, brown cake made from rice flour and sugar, a kind of glutinous white cake in the shape of rectangle. Often given as a gift, it is delicious when steamed, fried, fried with eggs or even eaten cold.      

 Yuan Xiao

The Lantern Festival (orYuan XiaoFestival in Chinese) is an important traditional Chinese festival, which is on the 15th of the first lunar month, marking the end of celebrations of the New Year.         

Besides entertainment and beautiful lanterns, another important part of the Lantern Festival orYuan XiaoFestival is eating small dumpling balls made of glutinous rice flour. We call these ballsYuan XiaoorTang Yuan. Obviously, they get the name from the festival itself. Made of sticky rice flour filled with sweet stuffing and round in shape, it symbolizes family unity, completeness and happiness.

The fillings inside the dumplings orYuan Xiaoare either sweet or salty. Sweet fillings are made of sugar, Walnuts, sesame, osmanthus flowers, rose petals, sweetened tangerine peel, bean paste, or jujube paste. A single ingredient or any combination can be used as the filling. The salty variety is filled with minced meat, vegetables or a mixture.

The way to makeYuan Xiaoalso varies between northern and southern China. The usual method followed in southern provinces is to shape the dough of rice flour into balls, make a hole, insert the filling, then close the hole and smooth out the dumpling by rolling it between your hands. In North China, sweet or non-meat stuffing is the usual ingredient. The fillings are pressed into hardened cores, dipped lightly in water and rolled in a flat basket containing dry glutinous rice flour. A layer of the flour sticks to the filling, which is then again dipped in water and rolled a second time in the rice flour. And so it goes, like rolling a snowball, until the dumpling is the desired size.

 Oranges

In some places, it is also very popular to give oranges, because in Chinese, the word orange sounds like Ji, which means good luck. People present oranges to express their respects and good wishes to their friends and relatives for the coming year.

New Year food customs vary from place to place in China because China is a vast country geographically, demographically and ethnically. But the spirit underlying the diverse celebrations of the New Year is the same -- a sincere wish of peace and happiness for family members and friends.