Do you know the story behind the invention of dumplings? The original name of
dumplings is "Jiao'er". According to legend, it was first invented by Chinese medical sage Zhang Zhongjing. Zhang Zhongjing (approximately 150-154 AD-approximately 215-219 AD), Mingji, with the character Zhongjing, of Han nationality, was born in Nanyang Nieyang (now Rangdong Town, Dengzhou, Henan) in the Eastern Han Dynasty. The famous medical scientist in the late Eastern Han Dynasty was honored as a medical saint by later generations. The story of his "Quhan Jiao Er Tang" has been passed down to the present.
According to legend, Zhang Zhongjing served as the prefect of Changsha and used to treat the common people. One year when the local plague prevailed, he set up a cauldron at the gate of the yamen and gave up medicine to save people. He was deeply loved by the people of Changsha. After Zhang Zhongjing returned home from Changsha, just in time for the winter solstice, he walked to the bank of Baihe in his hometown and saw many poor people suffering from hunger and cold, with their ears froze. It turned out that typhoid fever was prevalent at that time, and many people died. He felt very uncomfortable and determined to heal them. When Zhang Zhongjing came home, there were a lot of people seeking medical treatment. He was very busy, but he always remembered the poor people with frozen ears. Following the method in Changsha, he asked his disciples to set up a medical shed on an open area in Nanyang Dongguan, set up a cauldron, and open it on the winter solstice day to give medicine to the poor for treatment.
Zhang Zhongjing’s medicine is called "Quhan Jiao Er Tang", which is a summary of the clinical practice of the Han Dynasty for more than 300 years. The method is to boil lamb, chili and some cold-removing herbs in a pot, and then put these things after cooking. Take them out and chop them up, wrap them into ear-shaped "jiao ears", cook them in a pot and distribute them to patients begging for medicine. Each has two sweet ears and a bowl of soup. After eating Quhan Decoction, people get fever, blood flow smoothly and their ears become warm. The common people ate from the winter solstice to the New Year's Eve, resisting typhoid fever and curing their frozen ears.
Zhang Zhongjingshe medicine lasts until New Year's Eve. On the first day of the new year, people celebrate the new year and the recovery of rotten ears. They make Chinese New Year food like Jiaoer and eat them on the morning of the first day of the new year. People call this kind of food "dumpling ears", "dumplings" or "flat food". They are eaten on the winter solstice and the first day of the new year to commemorate Zhang Zhongjing's days when he opened the shed and cured the sick.
Zhang Zhongjing has been around 1800 years ago, but his story of "Quhan Jiao Er Tang" has been widely circulated among the people. Every winter solstice and New Year's Day, people eat dumplings and still remember Zhang Zhongjing's kindness. Today, we don’t need to use sweet ears to treat frozen ears, but dumplings have become people’s most common and favorite food.
