Amelie Chen

中国的新年快到了（Chinese New Year is coming），你知道“过年”的来历吗？（Do you know the origin of Chinese New Year?）

Long ago, people lived happily in a peaceful village. However, on the last night of one year, a monster called “Nian” (year) wreaked havoc there. Although the villagers tried their best to get rid of Nian, they failed and many of them left home instead.

Once Nian rushed into the empty village, the last family in the village was terrified, and Father cried, “Flee, do not take anything! Nian is coming!” Nevertheless, Mother held unto some items, including a big copper basin, as she ran. She had too many things, however, and could not run anymore just as Nian rushed over to their direction. Father flung Mother’s things unto the floor as they ran for their lives. “Kuang dong!” (a sound) went the copper basin.

Father turned around and saw Nian standing next to the basin looking scared. Terrified Nian fled the village and did not dare to turn up again.

Because the family chased away Nian, villagers who had left before returned happily. The first thing that everyone said when he or she saw each other was “Guo Nian Hao!” meaning “Happy New Year”. This phrase means that they had already passed that terrible period.

中国人，尤其是北方人爱吃面食。面食中常见的有馒头、饼、包子和饺子。

各种面食中，饼的花样是最多的，北方人喜欢吃的是烧饼（sesame cake）。烧饼，看起来简单，却是面食中的美味。烧饼品种很多，有的有馅儿（filling），有的没有。

面食中还有饺子（dumpling）和馄饨（wonton）。南方人爱吃馄饨，北方人爱吃饺子。馄饨和饺子的原料和做法基本相同，都是用一张薄皮来裹（wrap; bind）馅儿。不同的是，馄饨的形状像西方修女（nun）的帽子，而饺子的形状像中国古代的元宝（gold or silver ingot—used as money in ancient China）。

北方人、南方人都喜欢吃的一种面食是面条。面条与中国人的节令（climate and/or other natural phenomena of a senson）风俗有很大关：北方农历二月初二要吃龙须面（dragon beard noodls），目的是祈求龙王让这一年风调雨顺（favorable weather for the crops）；庆祝生日要吃长寿面（longevity noodls）；小孩满月要吃“汤面宴”；南方一些地方大年初一吃“新年面”。

为了方便，中国人还制成了各种不同口味的方便食品——挂面（a kind of dried noodls）和方便面（instant noodls）。挂面和方便面的保存期长、烹调（to cook）简单，是中国人日常生活中的常备（permanent stock）食品。

2010年1月22日，是中国的农历腊月初八（即12月初8），这天是中国传统的腊八节，在民间，到了这天，是一定要喝腊八粥（“La Ba”porridge）的。

而腊八粥的来历，可以追溯到明代，而且是跟中国明代的开国皇帝，朱元璋（Zhu Yuanzhang, the first emperor of Ming Dynasty）有关哦~

“La Ba”porridge

When Zhu Yuanzhang was young, he was very poor and had to be a cowherd. One day while crossing a narrow bridge, an old cow slipped and fell, breaking its hind leg. Zhu Yuanzhang was terrified of the consequences but he returned to his boss’s house and told him the news.

The boss was so angry that he locked Zhu Yuanzhang up in a rundown room for 3 days without food. Starving, Zhu Yuanzhang decided to look inside a mouse hole to see if there was any food there. Inside, he found small portions of rice, beans, red dates, peanuts, and other types of food. Using a broken pan, he cooked porridge out of all these items. Drinking his meager porridge, he said, “This is the world’s best-tasting food.”

Later, when Zhu Yuanzhang became emperor, he forgot this incident. One day, however, he suddenly felt that all the delicacies he ate tasted awful. Then he remembered how he had made his own porridge when he was young. He immediately called for the cook to make the porridge as he had before, and the cook added sugar in it. When everyone tasted the porridge, all said it tasted excellent. Because this day was December 8 of the lunar year, they named the porridge“La Ba”. Soon after, people found out about this practice and decided to have“La Ba”porridge every year on this day. Some people also call porridge “Ba Bao” porridge.