The custom of eating glutinous rice balls on the Lantern Festival was formed in the Song Dynasty. According to records, in the Tang Dynasty, people ate "cocoons" and "circles don't fall into corners" on the Lantern Festival. "Lactose dumplings" appeared in the Southern Song Dynasty, which should be the predecessor of glutinous rice balls. In the Song Dynasty, Zhou Bida wrote a poem "Cooking a Floating Zi Yuan on the Lantern Festival", including the poem "There are stars in dark clouds and pearls in turbid water". By the Ming Dynasty, "Yuanxiao" had more names.

Lantern Festival is a traditional festival in China, and it takes a long time to form the custom of Lantern Festival. According to general data and folklore, the fifteenth day of the first month was paid attention to in the Western Han Dynasty. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty worshiped Taiyi in Ganquan Palace on the night of the first month, which was regarded by later generations as the forerunner of offering sacrifices to the gods on the fifteenth day of the first month (historical records show that: "Han people often fainted in the new temple Taiyi Ganquan in the first month, ending in the Ming Dynasty. The introduction of Buddhist culture in the Eastern Han Dynasty is of great significance to the formation of Lantern Festival customs.

During the Yongping period of Emperor Hanming, in order to promote Buddhism, Emperor Hanming ordered "burning lamps to show Buddha" in palaces and temples on the fifteenth night of the first month. Therefore, the custom of burning lanterns on the 15th night of the first month was gradually spread in China with the expansion of the influence of Buddhist culture and the addition of Taoist culture. During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, Lantern Festival gradually became a trend.

Tangyuan, also known as Yuanxiao, Tangtuan and Piao Zi Yuan, is one of the representatives of traditional snacks in China, and it is a spherical food made of glutinous rice flour. There are usually fillings, which are cooked and eaten with soup. At the same time, it is also the most distinctive food of the Lantern Festival with a long history.

According to legend, Tangyuan originated in the Song Dynasty. At that time, Mingzhou (now Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province) began to eat a novel food, which was filled with black sesame seeds and lard, added with a little sugar, and wrapped in glutinous rice flour. After cooking, it tastes sweet, delicious and interesting. Because this kind of dumpling is floating and heavy when cooked in a pot, it was originally called "floating Zi Yuan", and was later renamed as dumpling in some areas.