Pushing a shopping cart, Liu Yunfen's eyes make a sweep of the shelves in a Beijing branch of hypermarket chain Carrefour.
The 68-year-old is in search of the perfect zongzi - pyramidal stuffed dumplings made of glutinous rice and wrapped in bamboo or reed leaves.
It is a busy time for Liu. With just days to go before the traditional Chinese Dragon Boat festival, or the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese calendar, which falls on Sunday this year, she has been tasked with picking the festive treat for her family.
It is a difficult choice.
From stores to supermarkets, displays of zongzi in mind-boggling varieties and brands have mushroomed in recent weeks to entice shoppers, more so since the festival was designated a public holiday. Numerous restaurants have also added zongzi to their menus.
But Liu's shopping cart remained empty.
"The price is a bit higher than last year's," the seasoned shopper says.
"The zongzi I make at home is much cheaper and tastier," she adds.
Apart from the price, Liu says she is more concerned about her 6-year-old grandson and how he is unaware of the origin of eating zongzi - to commemorate Qu Yuan (c. 340 - 278 BC), a minister and patriot poet of the Chu kingdom during the Warring States Period (475-221 BC) who drowned himself in a river to lament the downfall of his country.
The local people were also said to have paddled out on boats, either to scare the fish away or to retrieve Qu Yuan's body - leading to the tradition of dragon boat racing.
Liu has tried teaching her grandson about the festival.
"When Qu died, his followers threw bamboo leaves and cooked rice into the river to tempt the fish away from eating his body. This evolved into the tradition of eating zongzi," Liu recalls telling the boy.
But the child was concentrating on his Transformers robot toy instead.
Liu finally abandoned the idea of buying zongzi at the supermarket. She says she will go to the farmers' market to buy some fresh bamboo leaves and glutinous rice to make her own dumplings.
She plans to make zongzi with her grandson, although she admits she will not know whether the boy will be interested in it.
Hers is a challenge facing many of the older generation amid a growing commercialization of traditional practices such as making and eating zongzi.
Unlike Liu, many people were seen stocking up on the dumplings in supermarkets.
In a Wumart supermarket store in Beijing's Chaoyang district, one shopper, surnamed Sun, bought zongzi.
Sun says zongzi is now a food taken for granted during festivities, like cakes on birthdays or turkeys during Christmas.
But to Huang Tao, a folklorist with Renmin University of China, the festival is much more than eating zongzi. Traditionally, people also wear talismans to fend off evil spirits during the Dragon Boat Festival, since people think diseases are likely to strike during this period.
Chinese also post the picture of Zhongkui, guardian against evil spirits, on the door of their homes, Huang adds.
Adults may also drink realgar wine, and children wear fragrant silk pouches, all of which can ward off evil spirits during the festival, Huang adds.
It is also said that if one can balance a raw egg on its end at noon during this period, the rest of the year will be lucky. Still, eating zongzi will be the main affair, Huang says.
Meanwhile, merchants expect increasing sales of zongzi to boost their profits.
There are about 2,000 enterprises countrywide with total annual zongzi sales of more than 5 million yuan ($720,000), says Weng Yangyang, vice-chairwoman of Zongzi committee of China Food Industry Association (CFIA).
Zeng Yi, manager of Wumart's food department, says the chain's year-on-year growth of zongzi sales is also expected to exceed 30 percent this year.
The chain has more than 2,000 stores in Beijing.
Since May 8, Wumart has seen about 1 million yuan of zongzi sold, or 50,000 yuan a day, he says, adding that sales are expected to peak on the day of the festival and exceed the total sales of the past month.
About eight brands of zongzi can be seen in a Wumart branch alone. Among these, Wufangzhai, Longfong, Synear and Sanquan are the bestsellers, says Zeng.
Innovation also continues to make its way into zongzi this year.
Emei restaurant, a household name in the capital, is stuffing its dumplings with two of its house specialties - spicy diced chicken with peanuts and fried shredded sweet-and-sour pork.
Other restaurants in Beijing plan to introduce zongzi stuffed with roast duck, and sweet and sour spareribs.
To coincide with the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, many producers of zongzi are also shaping their products like the Olympic torch, with some even naming their offerings "Torch Zongzi" to attract customers.
Luxury zongzi, which have fillings of goose liver, shark's fin or abalone, have managed to draw a number of curious customers. But their price of about 200 yuan per kilogram remains daunting, they say.
Market demand will continue to drive innovation of zongzi and allure the younger generation, CFIA's Weng says.
Although the price of zongzi has not shown any significant increase, Weng says the size of some of the items has shrunk.
The price of sticky rice, the main ingredient of zongzi, is currently heading south as its high price in past years has encouraged more farmers to plant the grain and boost supplies, CITIC Securities Bo Guanhui says.
Still, an estimated 5 percent rise in zongzi prices will mainly be caused by an increase in labor and energy costs, Bo adds.
Wumart's Zeng says that zongzi prices have increased only slightly. Considering promotions, prices have actually gone up 5 to 8 percent on average.
"Zongzi remain low priced, ranging from 6 to 20 yuan a kilogram," Zeng says.
Most customers at supermarkets and restaurants say the price is acceptable.
Li Nuo, who works at a design company in Beijing, finds it is unnecessary to eat certain foods on a certain day, since people can have these whenever they like.
But, as someone born in Jiaxing, a city in Zhejiang province where zongzi is especially popular, Li says she still misses the zongzi her grandmother made before she left her hometown for the big city.
"It is stuffed with love," she said.
Source: China Daily
|
Comment
Tell A Friend
Print Format
Save Article