Understanding the significance of zongzi

THERE is no doubt about rice dumplings, better known as zongzi, being available all year round these days but there is a reason why most Chinese have zongzi on Duanwu Jie or Dragon Boat Festival.

Duanwu Jie, which falls on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month of the Chinese calendar, is to commemorate the death of a poet and minister Qu Yuan of the ancient state of Chu during the Warring States Period of the Zhou Dynasty in 278 BC.

This year’s Duanwu Jie falls on June 18, which is tomorrow.

Qu Yuan, who wrote a great deal of poetry, committed suicide by drowning himself in the Miluo River, in today’s Hunan Province, China over 2,300 years ago.

Let’s take a look at why the Chinese across the globe traditionally eat zongzi on Duanwu Jie.

thesundaypost recently spoke to former president of the Federation of Kuching, Samarahan and Serian Divisions Chinese Associations Dr Chou Chii Ming, who termed Duanwi Jie as among the top three important Chinese traditional festivals.

“Duanwu Jie is considered the third most important Chinese traditional festival after the Lunar New Year and Mid-Autumn Festival or Mooncake Festival.

“Duanwu Jie is to commemorate a great patriotic minister and great poet Qu Yuan over 2,340 years ago. Qu Yuan, an honest minister, offered his plan to save his state from aggression but his plan was not accepted by the king. Instead, Qu Yuan was exiled.

“Upon hearing the fall of his state many years later, he committed suicide by jumping into the Miluo River. This historical event happened on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month,” Chou explained.

It is said the local people, who admired Qu Yuan, raced out in their boats to save him or at least retrieve his body. Such is said to have been the origin of dragon boat races.

When his body could not be found, they dropped balls of glutinous rice into the river so that the fish would eat them instead of Qu Yuan’s body. This is how zongzi came about.

According to Chou, the locals in ancient China used to pour realgar wine into the river to poison the river monster in an attempt to save the body of Qu Yuan.

“It has become a festival to not only commemorate Qu Yuan for generations but also an integral part of the Chinese tradition and cultural life,” he said.

Today, the mainland Chinese still eat zongzi and participate in dragon boat races to commemorate Qu Yuan’s sacrifice on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month.

Apart from China, other places that observe and celebrate variations of this festival as part of their shared cultural heritage are Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Vietnam, Korea and Malaysia.

Traditionally, people wrap zongzi in leaves of bamboo, lotus or banana, which give a special aroma and flavour to the glutinous rice and fillings.

Choices of fillings vary as some prefer sweet or dessert-styled zongzi with bean paste and nuts like peanuts and chestnuts as fillings, while others prefer savoury zongzi with a variety of fillings including marinated pork, chicken and salted egg yolks.

Expert zongzi maker

Chou introduced thesundaypost to a zongzi maker with 60 years of experience in wrapping the traditional Chinese treat.

At her residence in Kenyalang Park, Bong Fah Kee, 86, could not be happier to share her tale of how she grew fond of making zongzi.

In recollection, she said her family was far too poor to let food go to waste just so she could pick up the zongzi wrapping skills.

“But looking at how my family members wrapped zongzi made me even more eager to learn. My family had a farm where we could find leaves of corn.

“What I did way back then was using those leaves of corn as the wrappings and wet sand as the fillings. From there, I gradually got the hang of it,” Bong recalled.

Despite her age, she wakes up at 3am every day to prepare zongzi – her way of earning her livelihood.

To her, wrapping dumplings is a tireless job and to this day, she still loves doing it. She has been selling zongzi at the Kenyalang Hawker Centre for over 20 years.

On usual days, she prepares under 100 pieces of zongzi for sale but when Duanwu Jie is around the corner, the demand shoots up.

Her daughter Voon Hui Lan, who learnt to wrap zongzi from her mother, said they need to get ready at least 8kg of glutinous rice a day to meet the demand when the festival is approaching.

The 53-year-old said 1kg of glutinous rice can produce about 20 pieces of zongzi.

She disclosed that most zongzi makers would go for Thai-imported glutinous rice, which is not too soft.

Aromatic leaves

Voon said they used leaves of both bamboo and pandan that are aromatic to wrap zongzi.

As she went into how they prepared the traditional food, Bong chipped in, “The key in preparing zongzi is frying the glutinous rice over low heat.”

Voon added that they cooked the nicely-wrapped dumplings for at least two hours, depending on the types of zongzi – bak chang (the usual size) and kee chang (smaller size).

Although Bong has been wrapping dumplings for six decades and counting, she nearly forgot how the traditional delicacy came about.

She nodded along while listening to Chou’s sharing on how Qu Yuan sacrificed himself for his nation over 2,300 years ago and what the local people then did for his sacrifice.

According to Wikipedia, Qu Yuan is regarded as the first author of verse in China to have his name associated to his work. Prior to that time, poetic works were not attributed to any specific authors.

He is considered to have initiated the so-called sao style of verse, which is named after his work Li Sao, in which he abandoned the classic four-character verses used in poems of Shi Jing and adopted verses with varying lengths. This is said to have resulted in poems with more rhythm and latitude in expression.

Qu Yuan is also regarded as one of the most prominent figures of romanticism in Chinese classical literature, and his masterpieces influenced some of the greatest romanticist poets in Tang Dynasty such as Li Bai.