(11 Feb 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Beijing – 11 February 2025
1. Various of a person making yuanxiao, a traditional Chinese food made with glutinous rice flour and sweet fillings
2. Various of manager of Jinfang Snacks Shop Qiu Yunhe packing yuanxiao
3. SOUNDBITE (Mandarin) Qiu Yunhe, manager of Jinfang Snacks Shop:
“The meaning of yuanxiao is reunion and happiness. It’s round and plump, implying family happiness. In addition, yuanxiao is sticky, meaning higher achievements every year.”
4. Close of yuanxiao
5. Various of workers packing yuanxiao for customers
6. Close of a customer sorting his yuanxiao in a bag
7. Mid of customers waiting and picking up yuanxiao at a counter
8. SOUNDBITE (Mandarin) Qiu Yunhe, manager of Jinfang Snacks Shop:
“We have high requirements for the rolling of yuanxiao. It has to go through four rounds of blanching, and the time of rolling must reach 20 minutes so that the yuanxiao are of uniform size, and their quality is guaranteed.”
9. Wide of many people waiting to buy yuanxiao from Jinfang Snacks Shop
10. Close of people waiting
11. SOUNDBITE (Mandarin) Yang (only name given), Beijing resident:
“Of course it’s worth it. It’s only once a year, the yuanxiao are not available every day. It’s only an annual thing, so it’s worthwhile. The elderly in my family like eating (yuanxiao). It’s also good to send (yuanxiao) to friends as a gift. Jinfang is famous for its Beijing snacks.”
12. SOUNDBITE (Mandarin) Li Guoying, Beijing resident:
“It’s not only a nostalgic sentiment for native Beijingers (to buy yuanxiao). The flavor of them makes you want to come back here every year to purchase again. I don’t know why, if you have to ask, then I think it tastes like (the yuanxiao) in our childhood. The yuanxiao here remind me of that.”
13. SOUNDBITE (Mandarin) Cui Jingdong, Beijing resident:
“(My favorite flavor is) Black sesame. In my family, my father likes the five-nut flavor, and I bought some for him.”
(Reporter: "How much did you buy today?")
“I bought about 1.5 kilograms today, including for my family and friends.”
14. Wide of people waiting for yuanxiao outside Jinfang Snacks Shop
15. Various of customers picking up yuanxiao
16. Track of people waiting for a long time to buy yuanxiao
17. Various of yuanxiao being made
STORYLINE:
What is charming enough to make people in Beijing wait outside for an hour in sub-zero temperatures? The answer is yuanxiao, a traditional Chinese food made with glutinous rice flour and sweet fillings.
The famed Jinfang Snacks Shop in downtown Beijing has seen its peak season for yuanxiao.
The shop’s Ciqikou branch sold over 25,000 kilograms of yuanxiao on Monday, and the amount is expected to surpass 35,000 kilograms on Tuesday.
The pronunciation of “sticky” in Chinese is the same as “year,” so people connect it with phrases expressing good wishes for the year.
Yuanxiao are often consumed around the time of the Lantern Festival as part of the celebration.
They usually come in a variety of flavors, including black sesame, five-nut, hawthorn and the classic assorted-flavor.
In recent years, more innovative flavors such as blueberries, durian and chocolate have also been provided.
It takes multiple steps for yuanxiao to appear in their final shape of white round balls, including baking ingredients, preparing fillings and compressing them into small blocks, making the dough, and finally rolling the yuanxiao.
Hundreds of people were seen in three different places on Tuesday.
AP video shot by Caroline Chen and Zheng Liu
Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/
You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/b37ff9253be940d8b6c690d57e6ca741
Author: AP Archive
Go to Source
News post in February 16, 2025, 12:04 pm.
Visit Our Sponsor’s:
News Post In – News
