24 Solar Terms: 8 things you may not know about Start of Winter

Eating dumplings

A legend has it that at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty (AD25-220), "Medical Saint" Zhang Zhongjing saved many people in Henan province from a typhoid epidemic and their ears from being frostbitten around Start of Winter.

He cooked mutton, hot peppers and herbs to dispel the cold and increase body heat. He wrapped these ingredients into a dough skin and made them into an ear shape. Since then, people have learned to make the food, which became known as a "dumpling". Today there is still a saying that goes "Eat dumplings on Start of Winter Day or your ears will be frostbitten".

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