舌尖上的中国 ---- 饺子

A Bite of China – Jiaozi

对大多数中国家庭尤其是北京的中国家庭来说 ，包饺子，吃饺子是庆祝春节的一个重要活动。饺子一般要在大年三十晚上子时 （23 点到凌晨1点）以前包好，等到了子时再吃，因为子时正是中国农历证明初一的开始，所以“饺子”有“交子”的意思。“子”指子时，“交”和“饺”谐音，代表喜庆，团圆。另外，饺子形状像元宝，包饺子意味着包住好云气。所以，包饺子和吃饺子是人们在新年时祈求愿望的一种方式。饺子皮用面粉制作，馅儿有肉馅儿，肉菜馅儿，素馅儿等，可煮可蒸，美味营养。在中国水饺传人西方之前，西方人就已经知道意大利饺子了。由于中国的饺子很像意大利饺子，所以他们一般把“饺子”翻译成英语的 “dumpling”。实际上，“dumpling” 并不是特指中国饺子，它是指所有皮包馅这类食物。因此，随着西方对中国文化了解的增加，越来越多的西方人开始习惯用 “jiaozi” 来称呼这种食品了。

For most Chinese families, northern ones in particular, making and eating jiaozi (Chinese dumplings) is an essential activity to celebrate the Spring Festival (Chinese New Year). Jiaozi is usually made ready before the period of zi (23:00 – 1:00) on the Spring Festival Eve and won’t be eaten until the period of zi, which is the beginning of the first day of the first month in the lunar calendar. As jiao sounds like the character for “intersect” and zi refers to the first two hours of the New Year, jiaozi indicates the meeting of years and symbolizes happiness and reunion. Moreover, jiaozi is shaped like an ingot, and making jiaozi implicates wrapping good luck, so making and eating jiaozi is a way of making wishes when celebrating the New Year. The wrapper of jiaozi is a piece of dough made of flour and the stuffing can be made of a variety of ingredients using different kinds of meat, vegetables or both. Chinese jiaozi is cooked by boiling or steaming, and it is not only delicious, but also nutritious. Before the introduction of jiaozi to the West, Western people had already been familiar with Italian dumplings. Because of its similarity to Italian dumplings, jiaozi was generally translated as “dumpling” in English. As a matter of fact, “dumpling” is a broader concept; it refers to all the stuffed foods of this kind. With the West knowing more about Chinese culture, more Western people are getting used to call this Chinese food jiaozi.