Miluo Zongzi

Miluo zongzi are the Dragon Boat rice-dumplings handed down along the Miluo river in Yueyang, glutinous rice wrapped in reed or bamboo leaves, often with local lye-water, red bean or cured meat, steamed until the rice and leaf fragrances mingle, soft and sticky but never cloying.

Legend says that after Qu Yuan threw himself into the Miluo river, the people offered rice in bamboo tubes to the water, and—fearing dragons would steal it—wrapped the rice in leaves and bound it with five-coloured thread, the seed of the zongzi. Miluo, where Qu Yuan died, has kept the Dragon Boat and zongzi customs for over two thousand years, sharing roots with the first-batch national ICH "Duanwu customs along the Miluo river."

Every household wraps and steams zongzi around the Dragon Boat Festival, and they are eaten year-round as breakfast or snack—sweet ones dipped in sugar, meat ones with chilli—a taste of Yueyang's festivals and everyday life.

Its deep bond with the legend of Qu Yuan and the Miluo Duanwu customs, and the clean fragrance of leaf and glutinous rice, are the unmistakable marks of Miluo zongzi.