Tag Archives: chinese american

Chinese American Dragon Boat Festival Meal

Text: A tradition, during the dragon boat festival the informants’ family will always make “zhong zi, it is bamboo leaves soaked in water then inside then you have sticky rice with soy sauce, there is also pork belly or red dates. And it is made by steaming them. In Asia they race dragon boats. His family does it every year. Even if his family is not home. He likes pork the most because it’s more savory. It can also be salted egg yolk in the middle. 

Context: The informant doesn’t know much more about the dragon boat festival, His family doesn’t watch it, he loosely knows what they look like but his family cares about the festival that much. To him it’s more about eating a specific food during a specific time of year. Both his parents were born in China but he was born here. 
Analysis: The informant’s family tradition of making “zhong zi” during the Dragon Boat Festival shows how folklore adapts to fit contemporary lifestyles, especially within diasporic communities. Despite limited engagement with the festival’s traditional activities like dragon boat racing, the annual preparation of zhong zi serves as a powerful cultural symbol, preserving their Chinese heritage. This practice highlights the role of food in maintaining ethnic identity and familial bonds, even when historical narratives are not fully embraced. It shows how traditions can persist through adaptable, personally meaningful elements, such as shared meals during cultural festivals.

Chinese New Year Celebration – Chinese American Folk Ritual/Festival

Nationality: Chinese American
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Performance Date: 4/30/2023
Language: English

1. Text

When asked to share a folk tradition, the informant responded with the following:

“For Chinese New Year, when I was younger I would fly from China to US during my winter break and go celebrate [the holiday] at my grandma’s house in k-town (Korea Town).”

“We would make dumplings and in some of the dumplings my grandma would put a dime or penny or date in them. If you get the special dumpling, you get $1 or $5.”

“After the meal, we would play mahjong and watch Chinese New Year celebration live stream. This was a tradition that my grandma had done since my dad and his siblings were kids, so it’s a pretty long tradition”

“We would try to wear a lot of red for the new years. Usually my grandma would make dish too because my last name sounds like fish but also my dad loves eating fish.”

“Everyone gave out red envelopes to the kids, usually containing 50 to 100 dollars.”

2. Context

Informant relation to the piece:

The informant is Chinese-American and is currently a college student in the US. The informant shares this family ritual from their memory of participating in it. The informant’s grandma is the one who initiated this ritual, which is also a commonly practiced ritual/festival in Chinese culture.

Informant interpretation of the piece:

It is a ritual that brings together the family from different places in the world. It is a festive one since there is good food, fun activities, and presents.

3. Analysis

Chinese New Year is a traditional Chinese holiday and festival on the new year of the lunar calendar. It usually spans a week or two, and on each day there are different customs and rituals to perform. The main one is on the first day of the new year where the family gathers with all the relatives on the husband or father’s side of the family, which is closest to the ritual collected above from the informant. Since this ritual is only performed once a year, it is regarded with great importance, which explains why the informant would be flying across the Pacific from China in order to perform this ritual with their grandma in America. Chinese New Year is the Chinese equivalent of Thanksgiving for Americans. It serves as an excuse and incentive for the entire family to get together, which is pleasant for some and unpleasant for others. Similar to the ritual of Thanksgiving, there is a set of traditional Chinese foods that are prepared and eaten on Chinese New Year. In the ritual collected above, the foods are specific and personal to the informant, which are dumplings and fish, showing that the traditional foods eaten on New Years differ in each family. Unlike the trademark turkey that is eaten on Thanksgiving, there is not one food that is always eaten on Chinese New Year since the ritual is performed by Chinese people spread across different regions, which would have different foods available, especially for a family like the informant’s in the US. Another detail worth noting is the giving of red envelopes and the money prize for the special dumplings. Since Chinese culture places great emphasis on monetary prosperity, these customs for New Years reinforce to children that there is luck required to gain prosperity and the importance of money. Whereas Thanksgiving has no such customs, reflecting the contrast between American and Chinese culture on the concept of money for children.

Bake Your Own Cookie

Background provided by NN : NN was born and raised in Southern California. They were raised in a Chinese-American household and experienced many different forms of folklore. 

Context: NN was approached about folklore, they conveyed it through a telephone call. NN says that her father tells this tale whenever they are lazy. They also revealed that this particular folklore had evolved to be a joke after they learned how to cook and bake. 

Main Piece Transcription of interview (contains the context of particular performance and additional background information):

NN: “ So … like … my dad tells me this story … ALL the time. He usually tells me … when he thinks I am being … lazy, or whatever. The story kinda … always begins … with “There was once a rich man” (accompanied by air quotes) who had … like everything done for him. He never had to … umm … lifted a finger … like AT ALL. Servants … wiped his butt, like … fed him,  they did everything for him. (Pauses for effect) One, day, after he got married his, ummm … wife had to … like … uhh … visit her family for the … the … holiday. She baked her husband  a large cookie, and like put in on … a … string  and put it on around his neck. AND she left to visit her family … for … like a week. When she came back home,  she …  her husband was dead.  Like … he was in the same position … like when she left him … and like the cookie around his neck was not eaten. He was too lazy … to even lift the cookie … to like … eat … so he died. My dad would always say something, like … (deepens voice to imitate their father) “See … work won’t kill you, but being lazy will. Do you want to have someone bake your cookie for you … or what.” 

Analysis: This particular short story is has morbid humor. The laziness of the man is obviously dramatized to highlight the importance of hard work. It seems like the story is told orally and had even evolved into a joke amongst close family members. The moral of the story remains despite the context of the perfomance. It also acts as a representation of Chinese values. The lazy man can also be interpreted as subtle commentary on the partriarchal society. The wife had provided substance for her husband, but his choice led to his own demise. Another interesting layer to this tale is the financial component; the lazy man had never done anything for himself because he had the financial means to outsource all his tasks. This tale could have originated from the working-class as way of encouraging their chidren to embrace work instead of focusing on the scarcity of money.