Dumplings’ Symbolic Significance in Chinese Culture and My Life Essay

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Dumplings’ Symbolic Significance in Chinese Culture and My life As a traditional Chinese food, dumplings occupy conspicuous position in Chinese festival and people’s daily life. Unlike noodle or rice, dumplings are no longer just a kind of food. It involves special meaning such as auspiciousness and foison. On every important holiday or event, for example, Spring Festival, a wedding or a funeral, the food people cannot miss is dumplings. How could Chinese have such a special emotional feeling for a food? We need to see the history of dumplings to find out the answer. Back to hundred years ago, dumplings are more like delicacy rather than a nice food to appease people’s hunger. When China was an economically backward country, people …show more content…
She uses the “terrible” dumplings to show that it is not easy to get her daughter. In addition to those customs of dumplings in my hometown, dumplings also have impacts in my recent life. This is the second year since I came to US. I spend Spring Festival with my friends last year. We made a great dinner and many dumplings together to celebrate the most important holiday of the year. Like the customer for Christmas that people usually buy gift for their family members, the heart of Spring Festival is making and eating dumplings. Carrier indicates that the gift creates problems “because the objects people confront in such societies overwhelmingly are impersonal commodities. And because these objects are impersonal, they do not make good gifts.” (Carrier, 1993) For this point, dumplings would never cause problems. Although people could easily buy dumplings from supermarket, making dumplings is also an important part in Spring Festival. The process of making dumpling is more complex than making other food, but the process allows people stay together and communicate. In conclusion, dumplings are indispensable in Chinese traditional activities. Its culture meaning and social function is beyond its basic function of resisting hunger. Chinese creates dumplings, but they probably did not notice its additional value at the first place. Actually, Chinese people not only created a delicious food, but also