The Northern vs. Southern Zongzi Debate Through the History of the Rice Dumpling

In Chinese history 2,298 years ago, Qu Yuan, who served as the Sanlü Dafu of the State of Chu, was exiled to a remote region for 18 years because of the nation’s political decline. After hearing that the State of Qin had breached Ying, the capital of Chu, he was deeply pained and grieved by the nation’s downfall. After composing the poem “Huai Sha”, he embraced a large stone and threw himself into the Miluo River to his death.

After people on both banks of the Miluo River heard the news, so that the body of this loyal minister Qu Yuan would not be damaged by the river fish, every household specially made zongzi and threw them into the water to feed the fish and shrimp.

From this historical anecdote, it can be proven that the southern Taiwanese zongzi, which is boiled in water until soft and dense, should be closer to the original form of the meat zongzi.

So, the southern zongzi is thrown into the water for the fish to eat; as humans, we should still enjoy the northern zongzi.

(A proclamation for the annual north-south zongzi battle on the island of Taiwan)

A friend retorted: “Nonsense. Only 3D oily rice would fall apart when thrown into the river, which makes feeding the fish more efficient. So it is clear that 3D oily rice is the prototype of the zongzi designed to be fed to fish. The southern zongzi was simply invented by greedy people to satisfy their appetites.”

In fact, the savory, fluffy, salty, and citrusy flavor of northern meat zongzi is obvious to all. But people on both banks of the Miluo River very likely discovered nearly three thousand years ago that northern zongzi dissolve as soon as they enter the water and would quickly be washed away by the current, leaving the fish and shrimp no chance to enjoy them. So the people on both banks of the Miluo River would still keep the northern zongzi for themselves and separately make southern zongzi that sink to the riverbed to feed the fish and shrimp to peck at slowly.