(Source: hudong.com)

Pang Juan went to the jail to see Sun Bin every day; he comforted Sun and provided him with delicious food. Sun Bin was touched by Pang’s behavior. One day, they chatted in the jail. Pang Juan said: “you must cheer up; you can still make contribution to the state even you have crippled legs. You can write down our master’s book and it can make you immortal.” Sun Bin agreed to Yuan Juan’s suggestion and he wrote the book according to his memory, staying up days and nights, even forgetting about eating and sleeping.

After a few months, the book was almost finished. One day, Sun Bin told an old soldier that he had finally finished the book and wanted to give it to Pang Juan to repay for Pang’s kindness. The old soldier was surprised and told Sun Bin it was Pang Juan that plotted the attack on Sun Bin. Pang Juan was jealous about Sun Bin’s talent; he was afraid that Sun’s knowledge that he had learned from the book would have a bad influence on his career. So he harmed Sun Bin and tried everything to swindle the book. Sun Bin was sad after hearing this and he saw through Pang Juan’s conspiracy. He burned the book and threw it away for revenge.

The next day, Pang Juan came to the jail to see Sun Bin. He was angry when he saw Sun Bin was eccentric and had burned the book. So Pang Juan put Sun Bin into a pigsty. Sun Bin wasn’t allowed to eat or drink; he pined away day by day. The old soldier worried about Sun’s health; one day, the soldier’s wife came up with an idea: she soaked the dry glutinous rice with oriental blueberry juice and then steamed the rice for dozens of hours, making it into small buns. The color and shape of the food was like pig manure, which would keep Pang Juan from noticing and save Sun Bin’s life at the same time. On the day of the Start of Summer, the old soldier gave the black glutinous rice to Sun Bin. Sun Bin noticed the soldier’s intention; he ate the “pig manures” when Pang Juan came to visit. Pang Juan thought Sun was really crazy so he loosened the restraint put on Sun Bin.

Sun Bin’s talent was appreciated by the state of Qi; so the king of Qi released Sun Bin from the jail. Later, in the battle between Wei and Qi, Sun Bin killed Pang Juan, finally taking the revenge.

Sun bin was grateful to the old soldier so he ate black glutinous rice on every Start of Summer. People were proud of Sun Bin and they honored him by eating the food on the Start of Summer. And that is the derivation of the custom of eating black glutinous rice on Start of Summer day.

Source: weather.com

Translated by Jiang Yilingzi

Edit by Clark Cahill