#Rice Dumpling

[megwillart]

Jing Nyan gets curious about Rice Dumpling... 🍁🐈

Inspired by something my actual cat has definitely done.. I love that these two both got cat forme

[n4391]

Cold Dragon Young Rapping 🎤🐉

[neulfang-draws]

Happy New Year, everyone! I'd say Critter Pick took over my life as of this moment this smol beans--

[shirozen]

A day late but here's Part 2 of my dumpling guide!

Part 1 is here!

[buffetlicious]

If all Zong Zi or Rice Dumplings look the same to you, you’re not alone! Zong Zi (粽子) or Bak Chang are a variety of glutinous rice dumplings traditionally eaten by the Chinese during the Dragon Boat Festival (端午节). Here are six types of popular Zong Zi from various dialect and ethnic groups in Singapore.

Hokkien Rice Dumpling (福建咸肉粽) - One of the most common Zong Zi that can be found in markets and stores, the Hokkien Zong Zi is wrapped in bamboo leaves is recognized by its dark appearance from soy sauce infused rice and distinct aroma from the five-spice seasoning. Usually made with pork belly, salted egg yolk, chestnuts and dried shrimps.

Cantonese Rice Dumpling (广东咸肉粽) - The ingredient that sets Cantonese Zong Zi apart is the filling of mung beans or green beans. One can also order a variation with a salted egg yolk. The glutinous rice is also seasoned with salt and garlic oil instead of soy sauce.

Nyonya Rice Dumpling (娘惹粽) - The Nyonya Zong Zi is the most distinguishable rice dumpling for its bright blue tip that is typically made from the extract of the butterfly pea flower. It is also sweeter in taste and aroma because of its pandan leaf wrapper and candied winter melon.

Teochew Rice Dumpling (潮州粽) - The savoury yet sweet taste of a Teochew Zong Zi comes from various ingredients such as red bean paste or lotus paste, fatty pork belly, earthy mushrooms and dried shrimp. Chestnuts are also added to the dumpling for texture.

Hainanese Rice Dumpling (海南肉粽) - The Hainanese Zong Zi’s most distinctive trait lies in its portion. It is filled with generous chunks of pork belly, whole chestnuts, mushrooms, and seasonings of savoury additions like five-spice powder, dark soy sauce, and black pepper. It is also usually served with a dollop of palm sugar syrup, adding a nice balance of sweetness to its savoury and slightly spicy flavour.

Hakka Rice Dumpling (客家粽) - Steamed in bamboo leaves, the Hakka Zong Zi consists of preserved vegetable filling, juicy pork belly strips and savoury mushrooms. It is also sometimes filled with beans.

Zong Zi info from here and images from Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth.

[renhengposts]

We went from 'nowhere to run' to 'nowhere to sleep'.

[dailyrenheng]

Happy Halloween! 🎃

[akbrsol]

[pinkrose05]

My babies (and this weird wet kitten I found)

[luselih]

cutiesssssssssssssss 🥹🥹

[touminggui]

端午节快乐！

[stellaronheart]

"Munya!" Rice Dumpling mewled at Stelle, gazing up at here plaintively. What he wanted, well... no one was sure, were they?

Golden eyed peeked at Rice Dumpling when he made noise at her. She shifted her attention to him and leaned down to lift him into her arms. "Hello." she greeted and bopped noses with him. "Are you hungry ?" she asked "We can go find some yummy stuff to eat." she caught her coat with her free hand.

To her all of the little critters were people to. "Someday I will figure out how to speak to you until than were playing the is it this game. " @reversescale

[n4391]

Ka-boom! 💥🍌

[zyiteart]

Zongzi Snail

[look-into-our-heart]

Unity is Strength: Making a Bunch of Rice Dumplings

The Dragon Boat Festival is coming. To celebrate this holiday, Chinese people would eat zongzi or rice dumpling. Dharma Master Cheng Yen says that Dharma can be found in everything, even in rice dumplings. Since 2017, Master began to use rice dumpling as a metaphor for how Tzu Chi and its volunteers and staff should operate. 

In society, there are many people in suffering, so a lot of work needs to be done to help people in need. Yet, resources in society, such as material goods, manpower, funds, etc., are scattered. In order to help people, there’s a need to pool society’s resources together. This is what Tzu Chi is doing. It’s like making rice dumplings.

To make rice dumplings, we first make a bundle of strings by tying a knot at the top. The strings are for tying individual rice dumpling. Each rice dumpling is made by wrapping glutinous rice and fillings in bamboo leaves and tying it with a string to maintain its pyramid shape. With the strings connected to the knot, the rice dumplings are tied together neatly in a bundle.

There are many kindhearted people in society who are willing to help people, so there’s a need to bring these kindhearted people and their strength together. The ingredients of rice dumpling are like the resources in society, such as people’s love, donors, donations, material goods, etc. There are people in society who do not know Tzu Chi and what it does.  Tzu Chi volunteers’ responsibility is to tell people about Tzu Chi and inspire love in people. Volunteers are like the bamboo leaves wrapping the ingredients together by gathering society’s resources, soliciting donations from donors and bring people’s love together.

The knot is like the spirit and values of Tzu Chi, the guiding principles of how Tzu Chi should function. Tzu Chi’s spirit and values come from Master’s teachings and the Buddha’s teachings. There’s a need to form a solid knot so that Tzu Chi volunteers and staff can have a clear understanding of Tzu Chi’s guiding principles and carry out Tzu Chi’s missions with these principles through various functional teams and division of work.

The strings are like the organizational structure of Tzu Chi, which includes Tzu Chi staff and Tzu Chi volunteer team leaders. The strings connect the rice dumplings to the knot. In Tzu Chi’s volunteer structure, the team leaders are like the strings, keeping the bamboo leaves in shape and connecting all the rice dumplings together. With the strings, we can hold up a bunch of rice dumplings by the knot. This is like gathering together society’s scattered resources, such as Tzu Chi’s donating members, donations, Tzu Chi volunteers, Tzu Chi team leaders, and link them to the knot, which is Dharma Master Cheng Yen and her teachings. Each rice dumpling can also be like a functional team. It’s through the string that they are connected to the knot. Without the Dharma as guiding principles, each functional team might go astray as they carry out their work. So, the string plays an important function of connecting the leaves to the knot.

The Dharma and Master’s teachings are the core and spirit of Tzu Chi. If each of the strings do not want to be connected to the knot, to Tzu Chi’s Dharma, over the course of time, Tzu Chi’s spirit and values will fade and its strength will wane. Master encourages Tzu Chi volunteers around the world to learn more about the Dharma so that they can all be guided by the Dharma and bring people’s strength together.

To contribute to society and help people in suffering, there’s a need to form an organization that has strength and spirit. Tzu Chi is a very orderly and organized organization. The metaphor of making a bunch of rice dumplings displays Tzu Chi’s spirit of unity. Volunteers are to work together in unity and harmony with love. If the hearts of all volunteers are united and what they do is correct and does not deviate from principles, this is embodying the spirit of a bunch of dumplings.

We can all be like a bunch of rice dumplings. We try to make as many rice dumplings as we can by inspiring love in many people, share the Dharma with them, and gather resources together. When people in society practice the Dharma and pool resources together to help people in need, together, we are protecting our society and the people in our society.

[buffetlicious]

The Dragon Boat Festival or Duan Wu Jie (端午节), is also known as Duan Yang Jie (端阳节), which means “Upright Sun” or “Double Fifth” (重午/重五). Falling on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month around the summer solstice which happened to be 10th June 2024 this year. The festival is also commonly referred to as the Fifth Month Festival amongst the Chinese. Its origins can be traced to southern China, and festivities include boat races and eating rice dumplings. The festival had evolved from the practice of revering the river dragon, to the commemoration of Qu Yuan (屈原), a third-century poet and political figure of the state of Chu in ancient China.

Legends and Myths - River Dragon (蛟龙)

The dragon was initially viewed as the benevolent spirit of the waters. It exemplified the masculine principle or yang in the Chinese ideology of harmony. Among common folk, it was believed that the River Dragon (蛟龙) controlled the rain and was thus worshipped during the summer solstice. Requests would be made for a balanced rainfall – sufficient to ensure a good harvest, without over-abundance that would cause destructive flooding.

Legends and Myths - Qu Yuan (屈原)

Primitive worship of the river dragon was often practised during the summer solstice. The Dragon Boat Festival was associated with Qu Yuan’s story only in the second century. Qu Yuan (屈原) was a poet and a statesman for the Chu kingdom (楚国) during the Warring States Period (战国时代). He served in high office and he advocated a policy of aligning with other kingdoms against the dominant Qin. However, political intrigue led Lord Huai to banish Qu Yuan instead. The ministry was left in the hands of corrupt statesmen and Qu Yuan helplessly watched his motherland decline. Depressed, he penned beautiful, patriotic poetry such as Li Sao (离骚) which means Encountering Sorrow, an allegorical poem stating his political aspirations and Jiu Ge (九歌) or Nine Songs, which gained Qu Yuan great renown.

With his top adviser gone, the king fell for the trickery of the Qin and his kingdom was eventually conquered. Upon hearing that his kingdom’s capital had been overtaken by the Qin, Qu Yuan committed suicide by drowning himself in the Mi Luo River (汨罗江). As he was adored by people everywhere, the local people did everything in their power to try to either save Qu Yuan, or at the very least, to protect him in the afterlife.

Hereupon the legend varies. Some suggest that fishermen at the scene attempted to save their minister. Having failed, they sought to appease his spirit by throwing rice stuffed in bamboo stems into the river to prevent the fish from eating Qu Yuan’s body. Others say that the rice offerings were snatched by a river dragon and the rice had to be bundled in chinaberry leaves instead and tied with five different coloured silk threads in order to be effective. The triangular Rice Dumplings (粽子) thus became entwined with the festivities. Another version tells of farmers rowing out in dragon boats in their attempt to save Qu Yuan. Hence, Dragon Boat Racing (赛龙舟) has been held annually on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, in honour of the memory of Qu Yuan.

Or if reading through a wall of texts is not your cup of tea, here is a pictorial guide to summarize on the history of Qu Yuan (屈原) and how we ended up celebrating Dragon Boat Festival (端午节) with dragon boat racing and rice dumplings on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month.

All images are from the internet. Selected text info from here.