Posted 2016/11/2
Chinese New Year a especially grand gathering and celebration is excessively respected and valued by common Chinese people.Food and other embelishment are created and formed as a speciality and preparation. The New Year cake is a long strip-shaped rice cake made from glutinous rice. It is a snack with distinctive Chinese flavors. The cake is usually eaten during the New Year holiday, hence its name.
The New Year cake has a long history in China. It is said that the origin of the cake has something to do with General Wu Zixu of the Wu Yue Period. In the Han Dynasty, there were rice cakes already. In the Dialect Dictionary by Yang Xiong of the Han Dynasty, there was the word “gao”, meaning “cake”, something popular in the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern dynasties. In ancient times, the making of rice cakes went through the evolving process from rice granule cakes to rice powder cakes. It is said that in the Liao Dynasty, every family in Beijing would eat New Year cakes on lunar New Year’s Day. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, the New Year cake became a snack available in the market all the year round and the flavor of the cake varied from the north and south.
Taking Beijing New Year cake into account ,it is a representative speciality in the north that comes in yellow and white colors, symbolizing gold and silver. It is also a sign of good luck, because the name of the cake is pronounced “nian gao” in Chinese, which are homophones of “higher and higher year by year”. The New Year cake in the south is somewhat different. Guangdong cakes are often made of glutinous rice powder, sticky powder, peanut oil, melon seeds and bamboo leaves etc. It’s gold ruby in color and soft and sweet in flavor, very delicious. The New Year cake in Hainan is smooth, yellow and sweet. For people in Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas, the New Year cake is a must-have delicacy of the festive food. And there are a wide variety of flavors, such as osmanthus candy, lard, rice and eight treasures etc.
The New Year cake is not only a yummy and delicious snack, but also something bringing lucky words to the Chinese people, because the word in its name “gao” sounds like “high” in Chinese. It reflects people’s best wish to make all living standards higher and higher. Every year, the New Year cake brings new hopes to the people and heralds in a better life in the New Year.
