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The history of tangyuan
The Origin of Eating Tangyuan in Lantern Festival

According to legend, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty lived in seclusion for many years, missing his parents and spending all day in Lacrimosa. There was a maid-in-waiting named Yuanxiao in the palace. Dong Fangshuo, the minister, was determined to help her, so she lied to Emperor Wu that Vulcan burned Chang 'an on the 15th day of the first month on orders from the Jade Emperor. The only way to escape suffering is to let the "Lantern Festival Girl" make many jiaozi that Vulcan loves to eat on the fifteenth day of the first month, and all the subjects decorate them with lanterns. With the help of Emperor Wu, "Yuanxiao Girl" finally met her family. Since then, the Lantern Festival has been formed.

There are different opinions about the formation of the Lantern Festival custom, but it was roughly formed in the Han Dynasty. In the history of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the Han Dynasty offered sacrifices to a god named Taiyi. It is said that Taiyi was a very prominent god at that time, ranking above the five emperors and owing to the Han emperor, so he was greatly worshipped. According to legend, another Emperor Wendi of the Han Dynasty was also related to the Lantern Festival.

Yuanxiao, also known as Tangyuan, has many nicknames in history, such as "Mian Cocoon, Fenguo, Yuanbao, Tangbing, Yuanbujiao" and so on. It was not until the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty that it was officially named Yuanxiao. Yuanxiao is divided into two kinds: stuffed and unfilled. Small and sweet without stuffing, with white sugar, longan, sweet-scented osmanthus, diced lotus root and candied fruit as seasoning, also known as "Pearl jiaozi", large and shaped like a walnut with stuffing.