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Dumplings’ Symbolic Significance in Chinese Culture and My Life

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Dumplings’ Symbolic Significance in Chinese Culture and My life As a traditional Chinese food, dumplings occupy conspicuous position in Chinese festival and people’s daily life. Unlike noodle or rice, dumplings are no longer just a kind of food. It involves special meaning such as auspiciousness and foison. On every important holiday or event, for example, Spring Festival, a wedding or a funeral, the food people cannot miss is dumplings. How could Chinese have such a special emotional feeling for a food? We need to see the history of dumplings to find out the answer. Back to hundred years ago, dumplings are more like delicacy rather than a nice food to appease people’s hunger. When China was an economically backward country, people …show more content…

Dumplings are a classic farcie food, contrast with burgers or pizzas, which all the material is clear at a glance. No matter what the stuffing of a dumpling is, people cannot know just by looking at it. The hidden character of dumplings just corresponds with Chinese diffidence personality. Therefore, the decision was made by Chinese people according to their own appreciation standards, which meet their psychological needs. There are many different customs about dumplings in different regions of China. My grandparents are living at a country side in the north of China. They have a custom that bride needs eat dumplings in the wedding day. When I was very little, the bride was carried by a sedan to bridegroom’s house on the wedding day. Before that day, the mother of the bride would prepare 40 dumplings and hide them under the sedan seat. When the bride arrived on the husband’s home, the relatives would boil the hided dumplings for the bridal and the groom. The entire process means the new couples will happy and together forever. Lenkeit says that “culture is constantly changing…It changes internally through innovations and inventions-new ideas and combinations of old ideas to create new things.” (Lenkeit, 2009) This point explains the change of this custom. Since woman do not use

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