饺子 (jiǎo zi)

On the Eve of the Spring Festival, Chinese people eat an important kind of food—dumplings “饺子”. Initially, they were called “交子” rather than “饺子”. In ancient times, the character “交” was like a person’s two shanks, one crossed over the other.

Later, the character was used to refer to any two things that intersected. This time-keeping method used in ancient time was different from that in use today. The period from 11:00pm to 1:00am was known as “子时zǐ shí”. Since the period encompasses the end of one day and the beginning of the next, it was also called “交子(jiāo zǐ) ”.

The Chinese people attach great importance to the moment of intersection between the old and new year. The food that the Chinese people prepared to commemorate this moment is also known as “交子”. Chinese characters representing things are eaten generally including the character “食”, meaning that it is a kind of food. As a radical, “食” is written as “饣”. Therefore, “交子” later came to be written as “饺子”. In northern China, every family eats dumplings when celebrating the Spring Festival. Even today, this custom has not been changed.