Brief History of the Chinese New Year Cake (Nián gāo 年糕) - With Historic Recipe

The Chinese New Year is coming up on February 12, 2021. In today’s episode, we are going to talk about Nian Gao, a type of rice cake prepared for the Chinese New Year. This cake is made of glutinous rice flour. In Mandarin, nian means year, and Gao means cake. Gao also sounds the same as the word for “height or higher up” in Mandarin. So eating the rice cake coveys the wish for a higher income, a higher position, and generally the promise of a better year. Nowadays people consider it good luck to eat Nian Gao during the Chinese New Year. You can find more history bites and recipes on our website: https://hungry4history.com/blog/ References: 1. Jia Sixie. Qimin yaoshu, published in 533-544 CE. 2. Chinese Auspicious Culture. Singapore: Asiapac Books, 2012. 3. Origins of Chinese Festivals (2012 Edition - EPUB). N.p.: Asiapac Books Pte Ltd, 2018. 4. Yang F, Zhang B, Ma Q. “Study of Sticky Rice-lime Mortar Technology for the Restoration of Historical Masonry Construction. Acc Chem Res. 2010 Jun 15;43(6):936-44. 5. Woodcock, Leonard., Hu, William Chao-chung. Chinese New Year: Fact and Folklore. United States: Ars Ceramica, 1991. Photo & Illustration Credit: 1. 摄图网: https://699pic.com 2. Origins of Chinese Festivals. Singapore: Asiapac, 2004, 59-61. Music Credit: Royalty Free Music by BENSOUND: www.bensound.com.