The Chinese New Year is coming, which is of vital importance to all the Chinese people. All family members come together to eat at this time. Chinese New Year foods are not only delicious but it is traditional to eat certain foods over this festival. Fish, Chinese Dumplings, Spring Rolls, Nian Gao are usually seen as delicious and eaten at this time.

Fish(鱼yú)
In Chinese, Fish sounds like “save more”. Chinese People always like save more money at the end of year because they think if they save more, they can make more in the next year.

 

Chinese Dumplings(饺子jiǎo zi)
With a long history of more than 1,800 years, dumplings are a traditional food widely popular in China, especially in North China such as in Zhengzhou, Chengde, Dalian, Harbin, etc. Dumplings generally consist of minced meat and finely-chopped vegetables wrapped into a thin and elastic piece of dough skin. Popular fillings are mince pork, diced shrimp, fish, ground chicken, beef, and vegetables. They can be cooked by boiling, steaming, frying or baking. Legend has it that the more dumplings you eat during New Year celebration, more money you can make in the New Year.

Spring Roll(春卷chūn juǎn)
Spring rolls are a Cantonese dim sum dish of cylindrical shape. The filling of spring rolls could be vegetables or meat, and the taste could be either sweet or savory. After fillings are wrapped in spring roll wrappers, the next step is frying. Then the spring rolls are given their golden yellow color. It is a dish especially popular in Jiangxi, Jiangsu, Shanghai, Fujian,Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hong Kong, etc. They get their name because they are traditionally eaten during Chinese New Year Celebration.

Nian Gao/Glutinous Rice Cake(年糕nián gāo)
In Chinese, Nian Gao sounds like “getting higher year by year”. In Chinese people’s mind, the higher you are, the more prosperous your business is. Main ingredients of Nian Gao are sticky rice, sugar, Chestnuts, Chinese date and lotus leaves.

Fish, Chinese Dumplings, Spring Rolls and Nian Gao are the four symbols of Chinese New Year food.

Key words:
鱼 yú: fish
饺子 jiǎozi: Chinese dumplings
春卷 chūnjuǎn: spring roll
年糕 niánɡāo: Nian Gao/Glutinous Rice Cake