Visit the off-the-beaten-path Zongzi Museum to unlock the cool trivia about zongzi!

Jiaxing, formerly known as Zauli and Hecheng, is famous for its production of zongzi, especially the fresh meat zongzi, which is renowned throughout the world. The Majiabang culture of Jiaxing, which dates back 7,000 years, is the birthplace of the culture in the south of the Yangtze River and one of the origins of rice cultivation in China. Originally, zongzi was used for offering sacrifices to ancestors and deities for good fortune. During the Spring and Autumn period, ancient people wrapped millet in calamus leaves (Zizania leaves) to form a horn shape, called 'Jiaoshu'. Rice was sealed in bamboo tubes and cooked, known as 'Tongzong'. During the Han Dynasty, the fifth day of the fifth lunar month was commemorated as the death anniversary of Wu Zixu. By the Six Dynasties period, it gradually became the anniversary of Qu Yuan. The customs of eating zongzi and dragon boat racing on Dragon Boat Festival also originated from the Six Dynasties. Han Dynasty zongzi was 'reed leaves wrapped around rice', and the rice soaked in ash water was called 'alkaline water zongzi'. In the Jin Dynasty, zongzi was officially designated as a Dragon Boat Festival food, mostly in the shape of a bull's horn, and added the Chinese medicinal herb Yi Zhi Ren, called 'Yi Zhi Zongzi'. During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, zongzi was made with calamus leaves wrapping sticky rice, mixed with meat from birds and beasts, chestnuts, red dates, and adzuki beans, called 'Mixed Zongzi'. Starting from the Song Dynasty, zongzi began to be piled into pavilions, towers, wooden carts, oxen, and horses, and other objects. In the Yuan Dynasty, zongzi was wrapped with bamboo leaves, breaking the seasonal production limitation of calamus leaves. In the Qing Dynasty, ham zongzi appeared. Eating zongzi on Dragon Boat Festival symbolizes 'honoring ancestors' and 'success in one go', and people exchange 'Nine Sons Zongzi' as a wish for offspring. At the beginning of the 20th century, Feng Changnian, the 'Father of Zongzi' in Jiaxing, founded the first zongzi shop in Jiaxing, 'Zhenzhen Laolao Heji Wufangzhai', in Zhangjia Alley. It was highly esteemed for its exquisite ingredients and authentic taste, and later Zhangjia Alley was known as the cradle of Jiaxing zongzi.