January 30, 2009
In Beijing and other areas in northern China, the fifth day of the Spring Festival is traditionally a day to eat jiaozi.
Today’s hard-hitting Beijing Evening News headline shouts: “2,500 kilos of ground meat sold in two hours.” The inside article reveals that this hefty quantity of dumpling filling was sold at single supermarket, the Chaoshifa at Shuangyushu. The same outlet also sold over 1,000 bags of frozen dumplings and more than 5,000 kilos of jiaozi wrappers and filling ingredients yesterday.
Dumplings were a hot item at supermarkets and restaurants around the city, according to the newspaper’s spot checks.
The caption to the front-page picture, taken at Beijing’s West Railway Station, notes that tomorrow is the start of the post-holiday travel rush, as city residents return from their hometowns. Spring Festival activity will quiet down from now on, until the city’s newspapers break the story of how many cases of frozen tangyuan have been sold for the Lantern Festival, ten days from now.
- Beijing Evening News (Chinese): 5000 jin of meat sold in two hours