Dumpling (jiaozi 饺子) is one of the most common dishes consumed by Chinese people. It is a crescent-shaped snack consisting of a wheat flour crust wrapped in a variety of fillings. The most common fillings are pork, leek, cabbage, mushroom and shrimp. All the ingredients will be chopped before they are stuffed into the dumpling skin. Dumplings also have a symbolic meaning of attracting wealth and prosperity because of their shape, which resembles the ancient Chinese gold dollar treasure—yuanbao (元宝) .

There are different theories about the origin of dumplings, but it is widely believed that they originated from the ancient word “交子 Jiaozi”. It is believed that jiaozi signifies the turn of the seasons and the arrival of a new year, so everyone likes to eat dumplings on festivals.

Northern China loves dumplings more than the south, due to geographical and climatic reasons, the cold winter in the north is covered with snow, basically no way to grow crops, there are not many ingredients to choose, so the better to grow cabbage has become the choice of dumpling fillings.

People used to love to eat boiled dumplings, but now dumplings have evolved into different types, such as fried dumplings, steamed dumplings, crystal shrimp dumplings in Guangdong and pot stickers in Shanghai. Different cooking methods are used to target the preferences of different people.When I was little, I loved making dumplings with my family. Because dumpling making was a family activity, someone had to make the dumpling skin, someone had to make the filling, and someone else had to wrap the dumplings. My mom would also put a coin in the dumpling filling, and if anyone ate it afterwards, then they were the luckiest person.

Bibliography "Jiaozi." China Today, Jan 05, 2014. https://ezproxy.kpu.ca:2443/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/jiaozi/docview/1490845379/se-2. Saberi, Helen. "jiaozi." In The Oxford Companion to Food, edited by Tom Jaine. 3rd ed. Oxford University Press, Inc., 2014. https://ezproxy.kpu.ca:2443/login?url=https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/oupof/jiaozi/0?institutionId=9473 TRESTRAIL, JOANNE. "CHINESE DUMPLINGS, ANYONE?" Crain's Chicago Business 41, no. 25 (Jun 25, 2018): 39. https://ezproxy.kpu.ca:2443/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/trade-journals/chinese-dumplings-anyone/docview/2061003909/se-2.