Chongyang Cake
Encyclopedia
Chongyang Cake is a kind of traditional cake eaten on the Chongyang Festival. It is mainly made up of rice flour
, pulse flour and decorated with jujube
, chestnut
and almond
with baked and steamed sugar
. Cakes (糕) sounds like height (高), so people regard it as luck.
Rice flour
Rice flour is a form of flour made from finely milled rice. It is distinct from rice starch, which is usually produced by steeping rice in lye....
, pulse flour and decorated with jujube
Jujube
Ziziphus zizyphus , commonly called jujube , red date, Chinese date, Korean date, or Indian date is a species of Ziziphus in the buckthorn family Rhamnaceae, used primarily as a fruiting shade tree.-Distribution:Its precise natural distribution is uncertain due to extensive cultivation,...
, chestnut
Chestnut
Chestnut , some species called chinkapin or chinquapin, is a genus of eight or nine species of deciduous trees and shrubs in the beech family Fagaceae, native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce.-Species:The chestnut belongs to the...
and almond
Almond
The almond , is a species of tree native to the Middle East and South Asia. Almond is also the name of the edible and widely cultivated seed of this tree...
with baked and steamed sugar
Sugar
Sugar is a class of edible crystalline carbohydrates, mainly sucrose, lactose, and fructose, characterized by a sweet flavor.Sucrose in its refined form primarily comes from sugar cane and sugar beet...
. Cakes (糕) sounds like height (高), so people regard it as luck.
History
- It began to be popular in Tang DynastyTang DynastyThe Tang Dynasty was an imperial dynasty of China preceded by the Sui Dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. It was founded by the Li family, who seized power during the decline and collapse of the Sui Empire...
. - In Song DynastySong DynastyThe Song Dynasty was a ruling dynasty in China between 960 and 1279; it succeeded the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period, and was followed by the Yuan Dynasty. It was the first government in world history to issue banknotes or paper money, and the first Chinese government to establish a...
, Chongyang Cakes were popular in Bianjing (Today is called KaifengKaifengKaifeng , known previously by several names , is a prefecture-level city in east-central Henan province, Central China. Nearly 5 million people live in the metropolitan area...
), Linan (Today is called ZhejiangZhejiangZhejiang is an eastern coastal province of the People's Republic of China. The word Zhejiang was the old name of the Qiantang River, which passes through Hangzhou, the provincial capital...
HangzhouHangzhouHangzhou , formerly transliterated as Hangchow, is the capital and largest city of Zhejiang Province in Eastern China. Governed as a sub-provincial city, and as of 2010, its entire administrative division or prefecture had a registered population of 8.7 million people...
) and some other places. - It remains popular now.
Legends
- Before Liu YuLiu YuLiu Yu was a warlord and politician during the late Han Dynasty period of Chinese history.During the campaign against Dong Zhuo, the Guandong coalition asked Liu Yu to declare himself emperor, since he was a member of the extended family of the Han Dynasty emperors, but Liu Yu refused...
became an EmperorEmperorAn emperor is a monarch, usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife or a woman who rules in her own right...
, He had Chongyang Festival in Pengcheng. He was happy that day, so he climbed on the Xiang YuXiang YuXiang Yu was a prominent military leader and political figure during the late Qin Dynasty. His given name was Ji while his style name was Yu ....
's play station. When he became the Emperor, he made a law that people could ride, shoot and review the troops on September 9 every year. The Chongyang cakes were given out to the soldiers. - Kang Hai (the Zhuangyuan of Ming DynastyMing DynastyThe Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...
) was from ShanxiShanxi' is a province in Northern China. Its one-character abbreviation is "晋" , after the state of Jin that existed here during the Spring and Autumn Period....
and he attended the exam in August. However, he was ill in Changan. He hadn't reached home when someone told the announcement of the results. No one gave the money to the man who brought the announcement, so he was unwilling to leave. When Kang Hai was fine, it had been Chongyang Festival. Then Kang Hai gave the money and some extra cakes to the man. Because the cakes are used to celebrate his success, later on, the family who had children going to school would give out cakes to neighborhood. Then the custom that people eat Chongyang cakes has spreaded.
External links
- Chongyang Cakes
- Say something about Chongyang Cakes