Dumplings at midnight: A cross-cultural Spring Festival in Tianjin

Ahead of the 2026 Spring Festival, the Year of the Horse, two Egyptian students in Tianjin set out to explore the city's most iconic Spring Festival tradition-making and eating vegetarian dumplings. Joined by friends, they discovered the food culture rooted in Tianjin's 600 years of canal-transportation history.

Walking through the city's old streets and alleys, the duo went from buying special ingredients such as red vermicelli sheets and Chinese cabbage, to rolling dough, mixing fillings and making dumplings with young locals, and finally tasting Tianjin-style vegetarian dumplings with Laba vinegar.

Faced with red vermicelli sheets, a key ingredient in Tianjin-style vegetarian dumplings, Ahmed Mohamed Saleh was full of curiosity. "I've never seen this ingredient in Egypt," he said. "I heard it's essential for Tianjin's vegetarian dumplings, which makes me realize that every place has its own unique code for New Year customs."

Ahmed and Hassan Sameh Hassan Elsayed joined in the whole process—mixing the filling with the right ratio of sesame paste, fermented bean curd and sesame oil, rolling the dough to the right thickness, and pinching delicate folds to shape the dumplings. With repeated attempts, they gradually mastered the skill of making dumplings.

"Homemade vegetarian dumplings must be eaten at midnight on New Year's Eve. The filling includes red vermicelli sheets, Chinese cabbage, chives, fermented bean curd, vermicelli and more, with no meat allowed at all," said Huo Qingyou, a national inheritor of Yangliuqing New Year paintings, as he explained the folk traditions behind Tianjin's vegetarian dumplings to the international students.

"Pomegranate flowers are placed on the wrapped vegetarian dumplings and thrown away when the dumplings are boiled at midnight, symbolizing the casting away of bad luck. The dumplings are eaten with Laba vinegar and are first offered as a sacrifice to express wishes for purity and peace. Only after the sacrifice does the whole family enjoy the dumplings together," he added.

"The sour aroma of Laba vinegar blends with the fresh taste of the vegetarian filling. I finally understand the beautiful wish of Tianjin people to ring in the New Year in a pure and peaceful way," Hassan said as he tasted the dumplings he had made himself.

The two students also recorded the whole process of making dumplings and plan to share it with their families and friends in Egypt, hoping to give them a glimpse of the unique charm of China's Spring Festival.

A senior resident of Tianjin shared more of the city's New Year customs with the international students: "Tianjin people have strict rules for eating dumplings during the Spring Festival. We first eat meat dumplings at around 7 pm on New Year's Eve, and then serve a pot of steaming vegetarian dumplings when the clock strikes at midnight. Some families even wrap a clean one-fen coin in a dumpling—whoever gets it will have good luck in the New Year."

Tianjin-style vegetarian dumplings are more than just festival food. With solid historical records to back them up, they are a folk custom symbol deeply rooted in Tianjin's canal transportation culture. Passed down over hundreds of years, they have become one of the most representative elements of Tianjin's Spring Festival traditions.

The Annals of Tianjin from the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) records: "On New Year's Eve, the whole family eats vegetarian dumplings to ring in the New Year in a pure and peaceful way."

The Records of Tianjin Guard from the Qing Dynasty notes: "On the first day of the first lunar month, everyone eats dumplings, symbolizing the passing of time and the arrival of a new year."

This custom embodies Tianjin people's simple wish for a pure, peaceful and trouble-free new year, and stands as a vivid reflection of the integration of northern and southern Chinese cultures and the wisdom of urban folk life.

Feng Jicai, a renowned writer and cultural scholar, has a unique insight into Spring Festival folk customs and cross-cultural communication. He believes the core of Spring Festival lies in a strong emotional cohesion.

"Every New Year's Eve, the powerful magnetic field formed by thousands of families across China always attracts me. As a Chinese person, especially a Chinese cultural scholar, we all have a profound love for our country and family in our hearts," Feng said, adding that Spring Festival unites people's emotions for life, sustained by Chinese culture and the national spirit.

In 2024, China's Spring Festival was inscribed on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO, transforming it from a Chinese festival into a global one.

Feng said that in the face of this cultural heritage forged by thousands of years of civilization, everyone in the world is a "rich person" with this precious treasure. The participation of friends from all countries in Spring Festival folk customs is exactly for sharing this cultural wealth for all mankind.

Regarding the seemingly simple custom of eating dumplings, Feng defined it as a "sense of ritual in daily life".

"A sense of ritual exists not only in grand national ceremonies, but also in people's folk customs. Spring Festival traditions such as setting off firecrackers and having a family reunion dinner—this kind of daily ritual, though plain, embodies the national spirit and ethnic emotions," he said.

Hassan and Ahmed believe that with the upsurge of international students coming to China, more and more foreign young people choose to stay in China to experience authentic New Year customs.

Spring Festival folk customs such as Tianjin-style vegetarian dumplings, with their low threshold, strong experiential nature and easy understanding, have become a new entrance for Tianjin's inbound experiential consumption.

"They not only help spread traditional Chinese culture to the world, but also attract more international students and tourists to China, boosting tourism and consumption during Spring Festival," Hassan said.

Jia Yunge and Cai Muzi contributed to this story.