Eating the small dumpling balls made of the glutinous rice flour is a popular custom shared by all the Chinese on the Lantern Festival. This kind of food originated from the Song Dynasty (960-1279), and evidence can be found in “Ode to the Rice Dumplings” by a poet Jiang Kui. When boiled, the rice dumplings float to the water surface like “bright full moons in the sky”. Therefore, the rice dumplings are favored for their roundness and seen as a symbol of family reunion. Many people can sing the Taiwanese folk song “Selling the Rice Dumplings”, which goes like this, “The bowls are filled with the rice dumplings; after eating them families will enjoy reunion.” As the rice dumplings are always available during the Lantern Festival (“yuanxiao”), they are also called “yuanxiao”. The popularity of “yuanxiao” during the festival has been reflected in folktales.
One of the best-known stories is perhaps connected to Yuan Shikai (1859-1916), a high-ranking military official in the late Qing Dynasty. Yuan succeeded Dr. Sun Yat-sen as the President of the Republic of China and attempted to found a new imperial dynasty. However, people love’s for “yuanxiao” aroused Yuan’s suspicious because “yuanxiao” can be homophonic with “the elimination of Yuan (his surname)”. He tried to force the people to give up the term, but he failed.