Lantern FestivalLantern Festival Cuisine

• Category: Grain-based pastry
• Popular Regions: Nationwide; called yuanxiao in northern China and tangyuan in southern China
• Main Ingredients: Glutinous-rice flour and fillings such as sesame, peanuts, red bean paste, and fresh meat
• Alternative Names: fuyuanzi (浮圆子), yuanzi (元子), yuanzi (圆子), tangtuan (汤团), tuanzi (团子), tangyuan (糖元), rutang yuanzi (乳糖圆子), yuanbao (元宝)

The history of Chinese people eating yuanxiao begins with an even earlier tradition.

The earliest seasonal food of the Lantern Festival was not yuanxiao. As early as the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the Liang-dynasty work Jingchu Suishiji (《荆楚岁时记》) by Zong Lin (宗懔) recorded: “On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, make bean porridge and add oil paste,” as well as “At the middle of the first lunar month, it is appropriate to prepare white porridge with floating fat.” At that time, people ate bean porridge and oil paste on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month rather than glutinous-rice balls. Some scholars believe that the history of yuanxiao or tangyuan as a food may be traced back to the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods. The Huainanzi (《淮南子》) already contains the statement: “The people of Chu cook thick soup; the people of Wu cook soup broth.”

During the Tang dynasty, a seasonal food known as youchui (油锤) appeared. Zheng Wangzhi’s Shanfu Lu (《膳夫录》) explicitly records: “Among festival foods in Bian, Shangyuan youchui.” The preparation of youchui is described in a story about a Shangshiling in the Lushi Zashuo (《卢氏杂说》) by Lu Yan, quoted in the Taiping Guangji (《太平广记》). An imperial cook who had become famous for making youchui and was promoted to the post of Shangshiling gave the recipe: “One large serving tray, thirty to fifty wooden pegs, an oil cauldron with ash fire, one or two dou of fine sesame oil, and a small amount of mashed southern dates and soft dough.” The method resembled later fried yuanxiao: soft dough was wrapped around date-paste filling and deep-fried until, as the source says, “its taste was crisp and delicious.”

The Tang dynasty also had mianjian (面茧), a food shaped like a silkworm cocoon and likewise fried in oil. During the Five Dynasties period, mianjian remained a seasonal food of the Shangyuan Festival. The Kaiyuan Tianbao Yishi (《开元天宝遗事》) mentions that on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month people would make mianjian and place slips bearing official ranks inside them to divine future rank, giving the food an element of festive entertainment.

The earliest record of eating yuanxiao during the Lantern Festival dates to the Song dynasty. At the time, yuanxiao were known by names such as fuyuanzi (浮圆子), yuanzi (圆子), rutang yuanzi (乳糖元子), and tangyuan (糖元). According to research, the earliest tangyuan originated in Mingzhou, present-day Ningbo in Zhejiang. Local people prepared a filling from white sugar, black sesame, and lard, wrapped it in water-milled glutinous-rice dough, and formed raw balls approximately two to three centimeters in diameter. These were placed into boiling water and eaten once cooked.

Because the balls first sank and then floated to the surface, resembling a bright moon hanging among the clouds, they were also once called fuyuanzi (浮元子). The Song-dynasty method can be imagined through modern practice: filling is wrapped in glutinous-rice dough, rolled into balls, and boiled until the dumplings rise to the surface.

During the Southern Song dynasty, Zhou Bida (周必大), who was born in Suzhou, observed that eating fuyuanzi on the Lantern Festival had become fashionable. In his poem Cooking Fuyuanzi at the Lantern Festival (《元宵煮浮圆子》), he wrote:

“What night is tonight? Everything is united in reunion. The palace cook searches for an old flavor, The kitchen maid marvels at a new skill. Stars shine within dark clouds, Pearls float in turbid water. Among miscellaneous verses on the seasons, I append this to speak of our family custom.”

The poem closely links this food with the theme of reunion and is among the earliest poems to describe eating tangyuan. Zhou Bida also noted, “As for cooking fuyuanzi at the Lantern Festival, earlier writers seem never to have composed verses on it,” suggesting that before the Song dynasty literati had not yet devoted specific poetry or prose to this food.

The Southern Song writer Zhou Mi (周密) recorded various Lantern Festival foods in Wulin Jiushi (《武林旧事》): “Among the favored festive foods were floating sugar yuanzi, clarified-red-bean dumplings … and ten varieties of sweets.” At the time there were also distinctive yuanxiao such as yam yuanzi, pearl yuanzi, and kumquat yuanzi. In addition, Lü Yuanming’s Suishi Zaji (《岁时杂记》) mentions fried flour foods in the Song dynasty such as 焦䭔.

By the Ming dynasty, the name “yuanxiao” gradually replaced “fuyuanzi.” Liu Ruoyu’s Zhuozhong Zhi (《酌中志》) records the method of making yuanxiao:

This indicates that by the Ming dynasty, the distinction between northern rolled yuanxiao and southern wrapped tangyuan had already taken shape. The name “yuanxiao” also formally appeared in written sources. The Qing-dynasty scholar Chen Zuolin (陈作霖) wrote in Jinling Wuchan Fengtu Zhi (《金陵物产风土志》): “Tangtuan are called yuanxiao, taking their name from the festival.”

In the early Republican period, after Yuan Shikai, described in the source as a “treacherous usurper of the nation,” proclaimed himself the Hongxian Emperor, he reportedly became alarmed because yuanxiao (元宵) sounded the same as Yuan xiao (袁消, “Yuan disappears”). Hearing the word “yuanxiao” therefore made him deeply uneasy. Before the Lantern Festival of 1913, he ordered that yuanxiao be renamed tangyuan.

The prohibition proved short-lived. With Yuan Shikai’s fall from power, it disappeared as well, while the names yuanxiao and tangyuan continued independently in northern and southern China and remain in use today.

The most significant difference between yuanxiao and tangyuan lies in their method of preparation.

Northern yuanxiao use the “rolling method”, also known as the “shaking method.” The filling is first prepared and cut into small pieces. These pieces are dipped in water, placed in a container filled with glutinous-rice flour, and shaken. They are then dipped in water again and rolled in more flour. This process is repeated several times, gradually making the pieces larger and rounder. During rolling, the filling tumbles repeatedly through the flour like a snowball, becoming increasingly large and spherical.

According to tradition, this shaking method was first developed by pastry shops in Dadu during the Yuan dynasty, so that more people could eat yuanxiao during the Shangyuan Festival. Because of this process, the surface of yuanxiao retains a pronounced powdery texture. Once boiled, the skin remains slightly floury, with a distinctive firm and somewhat crisp chew; the more one chews, the more fragrant it becomes. The cooking liquid also becomes relatively thick.

Southern tangyuan, by contrast, use the “wrapping method.” Glutinous-rice flour is first mixed with water into a dough. A small portion is pressed into a round wrapper, filling is placed inside, and the dough is closed and rolled between the palms into a sphere. Tangyuan are therefore formed from the outside inward, with a smooth and sticky surface. Because tangyuan fillings generally contain more moisture than yuanxiao fillings, and wet glutinous-rice flour is highly adhesive, tangyuan have a softer and more delicate texture. Their cooking liquid remains comparatively clear.

In terms of fillings, yuanxiao are usually sweet, and the filling is relatively firm, commonly including black sesame, five-nut mixture, and red bean paste. Tangyuan fillings are far more diverse, including sweet, savory, meat-based, and vegetarian varieties, and their fillings tend to be softer and moister.

The Qing-dynasty writer Yuan Mei (袁枚) recorded two methods—radish tangyuan and water-flour tangyuan—in Suiyuan Shidan (《随园食单》). The radish tangyuan were savory, prepared by “shredding radish and rolling it until cooked, removing the strong odor, drying it slightly, mixing it with scallions and sauce, and placing it inside a flour dumpling as filling.”

Geographically, yuanxiao were originally more widespread in northern China, while tangyuan were historically more common in the south. Although both are made primarily from glutinous rice and filling, they differ considerably in several other respects.

The central symbolism of yuanxiao and tangyuan is “reunion.” Roundness evokes the full moon in the sky, tangyuan in the bowl, and the family reunited. Yuanxiao have also been known by names such as tangyuan (汤圆), yuanzi (圆子), shuiyuan (水圆), tangwan (汤丸), fuyuanzi (浮圆子), and rutang yuanzi (乳糖圆子).

The Song-dynasty writer Zhou Bida was among the earliest to connect this food explicitly with the theme of reunion. As an indispensable folk symbol of the Lantern Festival, yuanxiao carry wishes for family unity, happiness, and completeness. Merchants have also called them yuanbao (元宝), invoking auspicious associations with wealth and prosperity.

The sounds of tangyuan (汤圆) and tuanyuan (团圆, “reunion”) are similar, making the food a symbol of harmonious reunion and complete happiness. Eating yuanxiao on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month—under a full moon in the sky and with round dumplings in the bowl—symbolizes family reunion and good fortune.

It is worth noting that folklorist Tao Siyan (陶思炎) has pointed out that the now-common interpretation of yuanxiao solely as a symbol of “reunion” is actually a later, relatively straightforward explanation based on homophony. In earlier conceptions, every star in the heavens corresponded to a person on earth, and celestial phenomena were deeply connected with Chinese customs.

Lanterns were lit on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, while yuanxiao, as fuyuanzi, floated in the soup like stars shining in the night sky. Eating yuanxiao could therefore also be understood as “eating stars,” preserving an ancient dimension of astral worship. This dual interpretation—reunion and celestial symbolism—reveals the layered richness of yuanxiao culture.

• Ingredients: 200 g glutinous-rice flour, about 160 g warm water, 100 g black sesame powder, 50 g white sugar, 30 g lard
• Steps:

1. Prepare the filling: Mix black sesame powder with white sugar and melted lard. Roll into small balls of about 10 g each and freeze until firm.
2. Prepare the wrapper: Gradually add warm water to the glutinous-rice flour and knead into a smooth, non-sticky dough.
3. Wrap: Take a small piece of dough of about 15 g, roll it into a ball and flatten it. Place one filling ball inside, gradually close the dough around it with the thumb-and-index-finger grip, seal tightly, and roll into a smooth ball.
4. Boil: Add the tangyuan after the water reaches a boil and stir gently to prevent sticking. Once they float and become visibly larger, remove and serve.

Tip: Using warm water with glutinous-rice flour makes the dough easier to shape. Seal the tangyuan carefully so the filling does not leak during boiling. Use plenty of water to prevent the dumplings from sticking together.

• Ingredients: 300 g glutinous-rice flour, 100 g black sesame powder, 60 g white sugar, 40 g lard
• Steps:

1. Prepare the filling: Mix black sesame powder, white sugar, and melted lard. Press firmly, cut into cubes approximately 1.5 cm on each side, and freeze until hard.
2. Roll: Place glutinous-rice flour in a large basin. Dip the frozen filling cubes in water, place them into the basin, and shake in one direction so that the flour coats them evenly.
3. Repeat: Remove the flour-coated pieces, dip them in water again, and return them to the basin. Repeat this process six to eight times until they become evenly sized round balls.
4. Boil: Add yuanxiao to boiling water, stirring gently to prevent sticking. Cook until they float and expand, approximately five to eight minutes.

Tip: Each dipping stage should wet the surface evenly, and each rolling stage should thoroughly coat it with flour. Only then will the yuanxiao become round and firm. They require slightly longer cooking than tangyuan, so make sure the interior is fully cooked.

Yuanxiao and tangyuan have developed a rich diversity of regional flavors:

• Beijing: Cream yuanxiao contain cream in the filling, giving them a sweet, refreshing taste with lingering dairy fragrance. Traditional assorted and five-nut yuanxiao are also common. Old Beijing values yuanxiao rolled fresh on site: glutinous-rice flour flies through large bamboo trays as the filling pieces roll larger and larger, often attracting passersby to stop and watch.
• Tianjin: Honey-filled yuanxiao use honey and white raisins as filling. Tianjin people have long been known for their love of good food, and the Lantern Festival naturally developed its own distinctive flavors.
• Shandong: Pagoda yuanxiao are stacked by vendors into pagoda forms, topped with willow branches and decorated with red flowers, with fillings such as red bean paste, osmanthus, and date paste.
• Ningbo: Black sesame and lard tangyuan are the most famous, praised as the “finest of tangyuan.” The filling combines white sugar, black sesame, and lard, while the wrapper uses water-milled glutinous-rice flour. Tangyuan are said here to have originated in Mingzhou, present-day Ningbo.
• Shanghai: Fresh-pork tangyuan and shepherd’s-purse-and-pork tangyuan are local specialties, along with small glutinous-rice dumplings served in fermented-rice soup.
• Sichuan: Lai tangyuan are a famous Chengdu snack, mainly filled with sesame, with thin wrappers and generous filling.
• Chaoshan: Chaoshan tangyuan are filled with brown sugar, peanuts, and sesame and are sweet without being cloying.
• Hakka regions: Hakka tangyuan are often unfilled or filled with peanuts and boiled with old ginger and brown sugar, symbolizing complete family reunion.
• Taiwan: Taiwanese tangyuan are mainly filled with peanuts or sesame, while red-bean tangyuan are also popular.

• Category: Fried pastry
• Popular Regions: Central Plains, especially Tang-dynasty Chang’an and Bianzhou
• Main Ingredients: Glutinous-rice flour, date-paste filling or red bean paste, cooking oil
• Alternative Names: jiaochui (焦锤), 焦䭔, fried yuanxiao

Youchui were among the most representative Lantern Festival foods of the Tang dynasty and may be regarded as an “elder statesman” of fried foods. Zheng Wangzhi’s Shanfu Lu explicitly states: “Among festival foods in Bian, Shangyuan youchui.”

A story concerning a Shangshiling in Lu Yan’s Lushi Zashuo records the recipe of an imperial cook who became famous for making youchui and was promoted because of his skill: “One large serving tray, thirty to fifty wooden pegs, an oil cauldron with ash fire, one or two dou of fine sesame oil, and a little mashed southern date and soft dough.”

The method resembled later fried yuanxiao: soft dough was wrapped around date-paste filling and fried in oil, producing what the source calls a food whose “taste was crisp and delicious.” Some also praised it with the expression “pearls of oil painting” (油画明珠).

As an iconic Tang-dynasty Lantern Festival food, youchui carried associations with completeness and wealth. Their round shape corresponded to the themes of the full moon and family reunion. The word you (油, “oil”) is homophonically associated with you (有, “to have”), symbolizing abundance and surplus. On Lantern Festival nights during the Tang dynasty, people enjoyed lanterns while eating youchui, sharing in the festive pleasure.

• Ingredients: 200 g glutinous-rice flour, about 160 g warm water, 100 g date-paste filling, cooking oil as needed
• Steps:

1. Add warm water to the glutinous-rice flour, knead into a smooth dough, and rest for 15 minutes.
2. Flatten a small piece of dough, wrap it around date-paste filling, and roll into a ball slightly larger than tangyuan.
3. Heat the oil to about 60% of full frying temperature, approximately 160°C, and fry slowly over low heat until the surface is golden and crisp.
4. Remove, drain, and serve hot.

Tip: The oil should not be too hot, otherwise the outside may burn while the inside remains uncooked. Turn the pieces gently with chopsticks to heat them evenly. Properly fried youchui are crisp outside, soft inside, sweet, and fragrant.

• Category: Grain-based pastry
• Popular Regions: Tang-dynasty Chang’an and the Central Plains
• Main Ingredients: Wheat flour and sweet or savory filling
• Alternative Names: miancan (面蚕), fenguo (粉果)

Mianjian were an important seasonal Lantern Festival food from the Five Dynasties through the early Song. Wang Renyu’s Kaiyuan Tianbao Yishi records: “Every year at Shangyuan, people of the capital make mianjian.”

Mianjian were filled flour foods shaped like silkworm cocoons. Slips of paper or small bamboo tablets were sometimes inserted inside, bearing auspicious phrases or official titles and used to divine one’s future rank. The custom had a playful, entertainment-oriented character. Making mianjian with hidden official-rank slips was somewhat like later “hidden treasure” games: it satisfied curiosity about the future while adding an element of amusement to the festival.

The custom survived into the Song dynasty, although seasonal foods became more varied than during the Tang. After the Yuan dynasty, mianjian gradually receded from the center of Lantern Festival food culture, but their cultural logic of “placing auspicious meaning within food” was inherited and developed further by yuanxiao.

Mianjian and youchui were together regarded as the “two great delicacies” of the Tang Lantern Festival: the former combined blessing and divination, while the latter satisfied appetite, jointly forming part of Tang people’s culinary memories of the festival.

Mianjian take their name from their resemblance to a silkworm cocoon. In traditional Chinese culture, the cocoon symbolizes “breaking free from the cocoon” and “transforming into a butterfly,” expressing hopes for new life, transformation, and progress. The custom of hiding slips predicting official rank inside mianjian also reflects ancient wishes for scholarly achievement and an auspicious future during the Lantern Festival.

• Ingredients: 200 g all-purpose flour, about 100 g warm water, filling such as minced pork, mushrooms, and diced bamboo shoots
• Steps:

1. Add warm water to the flour and knead into a smooth dough. Rest for 30 minutes.
2. Roll the dough into a long strip, divide into small portions, and roll each into an oval wrapper.
3. Add filling, fold and pinch closed, and shape into a silkworm cocoon.
4. Steam for 10–12 minutes once the steamer is producing steam, or pan-fry until golden on both sides.

Tip: Make one end slightly pointed and the other somewhat rounded to more closely resemble a cocoon. If used for divination, a small slip bearing an auspicious phrase may be hidden inside the filling.

• Category: Vegetarian dish
• Popular Regions: Guangdong
• Main Ingredient: Lettuce
• Alternative Name: shengcai cai (生财菜), “wealth-generating vegetable”

People in Guangdong enjoy eating lettuce during the Lantern Festival. In Cantonese, the pronunciation of lettuce (生菜) resembles shengcai (生财, “generate wealth”), giving it auspicious associations with prosperity, good fortune, and an abundant flow of wealth.

During the Lantern Festival, Guangdong people traditionally liked to “steal” or secretly pick lettuce, then cook it together with cakes, a practice said to represent good fortune. Lettuce is eaten not only for its fresh, crisp texture but especially for its auspicious association with “generating wealth.”

Because of the Cantonese homophone with shengcai (生财), lettuce is especially favored in Guangdong during the Lantern Festival. Eating it symbolizes prosperous finances and flourishing business in the coming year. Its bright green color also symbolizes vitality and hope, expressing aspirations for a fresh beginning in the new year.

• Ingredients: 300 g lettuce, minced garlic, 1 tablespoon oyster sauce, 1 tablespoon light soy sauce, cooking oil
• Steps:

1. Wash and drain the lettuce.
2. Bring water to a boil, add the lettuce, blanch for about 30 seconds, remove, and plate.
3. Heat oil in a pan, fry the minced garlic until fragrant, add oyster sauce, light soy sauce, and a little water to make a sauce.
4. Pour the sauce over the lettuce.

Tip: Do not blanch the lettuce for too long, so that it retains its crisp texture. In Guangdong, lettuce is often cooked together with cakes, conveying wishes for “rising step by step and wealth flowing in from all directions.”

• Category: Grain-based staple
• Popular Regions: Northern China
• Main Ingredients: Wheat flour and fillings such as pork, mutton, chives, and Chinese cabbage
• Alternative Names: bianshi (扁食), zhu bobo (煮饽饽)

In many parts of northern China, there is a tradition of eating dumplings during the Lantern Festival. A northern custom says “flat on the fifteenth, round on the sixteenth”—dumplings, regarded as “flat food,” are eaten on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, and yuanxiao, the “round food,” on the sixteenth.

Eating dumplings at the Lantern Festival draws on the meaning of “jiaozi” as a crossing or transition, symbolizing the transition from winter to spring and from the old to the new.

The Lantern Festival dumpling tradition is closely connected with the wheat-based food culture of northern China. Wheat is widely grown there, and flour-based foods are daily staples. Throughout the Spring Festival cycle—from New Year’s Eve dumplings, to dumplings on the fifth day, and then dumplings on the fifteenth—dumplings accompany the entire New Year season and offer one of the most direct edible expressions of northern Chinese New Year atmosphere.

Dumplings resemble ancient yuanbao ingots and therefore symbolize “attracting wealth and treasure.” At the same time, jiao (饺) sounds like jiao (交, “to intersect or transition”), evoking the traditional phrase “the transition of the year at zi hour” and symbolizing the replacement of the old by the new.

The custom of “flat on the fifteenth, round on the sixteenth” also reflects a form of folk life wisdom summarized as “flat first, round afterward; tight first, full afterward.”

See the dumpling recipe in the special feature on Spring Festival foods.

• Category: Grain-based staple
• Popular Regions: Areas north of the Yangtze River
• Main Ingredients: Flour, water, soup ingredients
• Alternative Names: Yuanxiao mian (元宵面), luodeng mian (落灯面)

Northern China has a food custom summarized as “yuanxiao when the lanterns go up, noodles when the lanterns come down.” During the Lantern Festival period, people begin eating yuanxiao when lantern displays are put up on the thirteenth day of the first lunar month, and eat noodles when the lanterns are taken down on the eighteenth.

Noodles symbolize long-lasting celebration and smooth progress. The custom is widespread north of the Yangtze River. “Putting up the lanterns” refers to the beginning of Lantern Festival displays, while “taking down the lanterns” marks their conclusion. As the seasonal food eaten at the end of the lantern period, noodles express wishes for long-lasting fortune and everything going smoothly.

Because of their long, slender shape, noodles symbolize longevity and endurance in Chinese culture. Eating noodles when the lanterns come down expresses hopes that the coming year will be long-lasting and smooth, while also offering an auspicious conclusion to the Spring Festival season.

• Ingredients: 200 g noodles, 1 egg, leafy greens as needed, chopped scallions, 1 tablespoon light soy sauce, a few drops sesame oil
• Steps:

1. Bring water to a boil and cook the noodles until about 80% done.
2. Add leafy greens and crack in the egg, then cook until the noodles are fully done.
3. Place light soy sauce, sesame oil, and chopped scallions in a bowl and add some noodle broth to mix.
4. Add noodles, greens, and egg to the bowl.

Tip: Chicken broth or bone broth may be used instead of plain water for a richer flavor. Clear-broth noodles are considered especially suitable for luodeng mian, symbolizing purity and smooth progress.

• Category: Grain-based pastry
• Popular Regions: Henan and other areas
• Main Ingredients: Wheat flour, red dates, brown sugar
• Alternative Names: Date cake, red-date cake

In Henan and other regions, eating date cake during the Lantern Festival is a traditional custom. Date cake was originally described as a pastry served in the Qing imperial court, with a far-reaching fragrance and a gently sweet taste. Eating it during the Lantern Festival symbolizes days that are prosperous, flourishing, and sweet.

Red dates are the principal ingredient of date cake and symbolize prosperity and good fortune. The word gao (糕, “cake”) sounds like gao (高, “high”), creating the auspicious meaning of “rising higher step by step.” Eating date cake during the Lantern Festival expresses hopes for a new year filled with prosperity, sweetness, and steady advancement.

• Ingredients: 200 g wheat flour, 100 g red dates, 50 g brown sugar, 5 g baking powder, 2 eggs, cooking oil as needed
• Steps:

1. Pit and chop the red dates; dissolve the brown sugar in warm water.
2. Beat the eggs, add the brown-sugar water and cooking oil, and mix well.
3. Combine and sift the flour and baking powder, then gradually fold them into the egg mixture to form a batter.
4. Add the chopped dates, mix evenly, and pour into a mold.
5. Once the steamer is producing steam, steam over high heat for 25–30 minutes.

Tip: Adjust the amount of red dates according to personal taste. Lightly oil the inside of the mold to prevent sticking.