Chinese celebrate Winter Solstice (21 or 22 Dec) with glutinous rice balls and dumplings.
The glutinous rice ball, Winter Solstice custom go back over 1000 years. I have an article on its origin here 👈
The custom of eating dumplings during Winter Solstice go even further back by a few centuries. How did the dumpling custom come about and why are Chinese dumplings or jiao zi 饺子 shaped like ears?
The best known legend about jiao zi or Chinese dumplings is the story of 張仲景 Chang Zhong Jing. Chang was a physician who lived from 150 to 219 AD during the Eastern Han dynasty period (25 - 220 AD).
Chang was the authour of 伤寒杂病论 a medical treatise in which he advocated food as medicine.
During a winter in Henan province, Chang saw many poor people afflicted with frost bitten ears.
Chang set up a soup kitchen and distributed a soup with dumplings filled with lamb, herbs and hot spice (peppercorn). Drinking Chang's concoction of spicy soup and dumplings flushed the body with warmth and cured frost bitten ears 👂
The soup is called 嘘寒娇耳汤 which literally means "drive away cold beautify ear soup".
To celebrate the event, protect the ears from cold and to commemorate Chang's good work, it became a custom to eat ear shaped herbal lamb dumplings during Winter Solstice 冬至 and also during the first day of Chinese New Year 大年初一.
娇耳 jiao er "beautiful ears" became known as 饺耳 jiao er or ear dumpling, then eventually simply as dumpling, jiao zi 饺子 till this day, but the ear shaped remained.
Across China, there are many variations of dumplings with different ingredients for skin / wrap and fillings, and methods of preparation (deep fried, pan fried, boiled, or steamed).
In Chaoshan, Guangdong province, there are even yu jiao 魚餃 or fish dumplings where the skin / wrap is made with rolled fish meat and filled with ground pork. But, the ear shape is retained.
Written by Tony Boey on 21 Dec 2025
Who is Tony Johor Kaki?
冬至快乐
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