Winter begins: things are stored away as water and ground freeze
Northerners, especially in Beijing and Tianjin, eat dumplings on Lidong. A folk explanation uses wordplay: the word for dumpling sounds like the word for crossing, linking Lidong's crossing from autumn into winter with New Year's Eve and the turn of the year. The 2 articles from 2020 and 2023 recording these explanations do not identify their origin. People in Tianjin eat pumpkin-filled dumplings, while in Fujian, Guangdong and Taiwan people eat tonic foods at Lidong instead (2024 account). The Song-era Dongjing Meng Hua Lu, volume 9, has a Lidong entry about stocking winter vegetables and does not mention dumplings.
What
Eating dumplings at Lidong is a seasonal food custom of northern China. Lidong marks the start of winter, and families in places such as Beijing and Tianjin eat dumplings on the day.1,2,4
When
Lidong falls on November 6–8 each year, when the sun reaches the 225-degree point. No dated primary text recording dumplings at Lidong was found in the available material, so the custom is not dated here; the Song-era Dongjing Meng Hua Lu, volume 9, records stocking winter vegetables at Lidong and does not mention dumplings.4,5
Where
Mainly northern China, including Beijing and Tianjin (2020 account). People in Tianjin eat pumpkin-filled dumplings, and the Zhang Zhongjing tale is set in Henan; in Fujian, Guangdong and Taiwan people eat tonic foods at Lidong instead (2024 account).1,2
How
The dumplings are filled, boiled and eaten as a family meal. People in Tianjin use pumpkin filling.1,2
Why
There are 2 folk explanations. One uses wordplay: the word for dumpling sounds like the word for crossing, linking Lidong's crossing from autumn into winter with New Year's Eve and the turn of the year; neither of the 2 articles recording these explanations identifies their origin. The other is a tale of the physician Zhang Zhongjing making ear-shaped dumplings for villagers with frostbitten ears.1,2,3
Impact and influence
It is a shared northern family meal that marks the turn of the season, and older people there still speak of the dumplings as settling the ears. In Fujian, Guangdong and Taiwan the day is marked by tonic eating instead, so the custom differs between north and south.1,2
Legend has it that the Eastern Han physician Zhang Zhongjing, back home, saw many villagers with frostbitten ears. He cooked mutton, chili and medicinal herbs, chopped them, wrapped them in dough shaped like ears, boiled them and gave them out. Older people in the north still speak of eating dumplings at Lidong as settling the ears. China Daily sets the story in Henan. It is a folk tale, not a documented origin.
Told in: A folk tale, found in a 2020 Visit Beijing article and a 2024 China Daily report; China Daily sets it in Henan. It is a folk tale, not a documented origin.
