Migrants stay home to stay safe during holiday

Food for thought

Zhang Binhong often visits a Shaanxi-style restaurant near his apartment, as it offers an authentic taste of home. The restaurant is run by a couple from the south of the province, who told him they would be staying in Beijing and would only close their establishment on the Chinese New Year's Eve.

The couple normally shut their restaurant for about 10 days before the Spring Festival and use the time to return home.

Zhang Binhong said: "It was very convenient. My parents were worried that I wouldn't have enough to eat because all the restaurants and supermarkets are usually closed at this time. But this year the restaurant owners didn't go home－in fact, a lot of people didn't, so life wasn't affected too much."

Zhao Yingying, who owns a restaurant in Beijing that specializes in Tang Yuan, a traditional dessert, said she expected a lot of customers during the holiday.

A lover of traditional culture, she started the restaurant, called Tang Song Yuan after three famous dynasties, in September 2019. She decided to make Tang Yuan the focus because she found the dish was underrepresented despite enjoying a long history and playing a big role during festivals.

Tang Yuan consists of balls of glutinous rice flour with classic fillings such as peanuts and black sesame seeds mixed with sugar. It is often served during the Lantern Festival, the 15th day of Lunar New Year, and is a symbol of reunion as "Yuan" is a homophone of the Mandarin word for "union".

People often just buy bags of frozen rice balls at supermarkets, but Zhao wanted to update the dish.

She made new fillings from chocolate, yogurt, haws, dates, passion fruit and durian, and she changed the color of the rice from white to pink, brown, blue, purple and yellow.

"It's so cute. Tuan Yuan has so many beautiful meanings and is very sweet. After we opened the restaurant, we discovered that people not only love to eat it at Lantern Festival, they order it on any occasion that involves the concepts of 'harmony', 'love' and 'fullness'," she said.

Last year, the restaurant closed for the Lunar New Year, which fell in late January just as the coronavirus outbreak started. Although the establishment was unable to reopen for several weeks as a result of several lockdowns, Zhao said the online orders never stopped.