A White World

Spring Festival (also called Lunar New Year) is the most important festival in China. It has a history of more than 4000 years. Our ancestors attributed special meanings to Spring Festival as the beginning of the year and the time when everyone can get rid of all the bad luck from the previous year. People are willing to sacrifice their time and efforts to go back to their hometowns and reunite with their families on that day. During Spring Festival, people enjoy different kinds of traditional food varies with regions. I have been living in Shanghai with my parents since I was one. Neither of my parents, however, is from Shanghai. My mother comes from Beijing and I visited my grandparents with my mother every year during Spring Festival before I came to the US. On Lunar New Year’s Eve, our family usually ate dinner together while watching The Spring Festival Gala. Dumplings are always the main role on our dinner table on that particular day.

My mother used to be in charge of making dumplings. She liked to sit at the side of table where she could watch TV and while making dumplings. Flours gradually transformed into a dough as she gently kneaded and added water. Then she rubbed the dough into a long strip and cut it into smaller pieces on a cutting board. She used a rolling pin to make those pieces into flat, smooth dumpling wrappers. Once in a while, she applied some flour powder to the cutting board in order to prevent the dumpling wrappers from sticking. As soon as the dumpling wrappers were ready, the rest would be much faster. My mother usually dipped a little water with her forefinger on the edge of the dumpling wrapper to help the seal stay closed. She then put the stuffing in the middle of the dumpling wrapper and closed it with her thumb and forefinger. Within ten minutes, she could make more than fifty dumplings. Boiling them was also a simple process. After putting them into boiling water, they would be done in five or six minutes. 

When I opened the pot, the steam came out and covered everything in my eyes with a white mist layer. Looking outside the window, the white snow was falling on the white ground. Whenever I recalled those days I spent with my family, I thought of the whiteness I saw. Although white is not used to represent delightful moments in China, for me, it can be a symbol of the pure happiness of being with my family.