The beginning of winter, spring, summer and autumn are collectively known as “Si Li” in China. This was an important festival in ancient times.

As the saying goes: “If you don’t eat dumplings in the beginning of winter, your ears may freeze”. The solar term of ‘Li Dong’ (Winter Begins) has a meaning of harvesting in autumn and saving in winter. In the past, China was an agricultural country, farmers who had worked for a year would take advantage of the Li Dong Festival to take a break and reward the whole family for their hard work over the past year. A proverb says “When winter begins, eat more to save energy for the cold winter”.

This year, with the help of canteen chefs, Year 2 students at YCIS Chongqing had the opportunity to make dumplings in the school canteen to celebrate the festival of ‘Li Dong’! Our supportive canteen staff prepared some stuffing and dumpling wrappers in advance. Students were happy to mix dough, roll crusts and make dumplings on their own. Soon, a variety of colorful dumplings were ready! There were orange dumplings made of carrot and green dumplings made of spinach. The kids were excited to taste and enjoy the dumplings that they had made.

The theme of our recent Chinese Studies in Year 2 is “Festival Celebrations”. We hope this dumpling making activity, as well as other activities in the future will help students gain knowledge and experience of customs and traditions from different cultures. We look forward to sharing more exciting events with you in the near future!