Dumplings, a traditional Chinese food, are reminiscent of the warmth of home. On March 3, the first Dumpling Making Competition was held at Wuhan University (WHU), giving students a sense of happiness and accomplishment.
Participants make dumplings together
As a special ‘competition’, different from academic contests, preparations for this competition were complex. Lv, a member of the Culture and Art Center for Students of Wuhan University , was in charge of the competition and led the team in preparing the materials needed for the competition. Though another student association called “Qinghuan Food Association” helped to provide some tools, Lv and her team still had to buy the ingredients for making dumplings. “The buying process was quite complex. The competition was set to be held three times a day and would last for two days. To ensure freshness of the ingredients, we had to make a quick rush to the supermarket to buy food, then send them to the school as soon as possible and dispense them to contestants before each round of the competition,” Lv recalled. “There were so many trifles during the process.”
Although they had planned thoroughly, Lv was still unsure how well this competition might work. “The competition was initially planned for the Winter Solstice last year, but it had been postponed due to the pandemic. We were worried that participants’ passion might fade because of the delay,” said Lv.
People in various age groups taking part in the competition
Luckily, students were still passionate about the competition and every participating team worked hard to make beautiful dumplings. Mo,a junior from the Hongyi Honor College, was one of the participants. She found that all her roommates were stressed before the competition, so she encouraged them to participate just for fun. She built up a team called “The Center of Couch Potatoes”, which had five members. Together, they rid themselves of their usual burdens associated with studying and enjoyed the simple happiness of making dumplings.
This team found pleasure in the process of “creating” dumplings. At the beginning, knives prepared by the staff had not yet arrived. As they were wondering how they could chop the vegetables, it occurred to the students that the chopping board might function as a knife. Then they cracked some eggs and added egg whites to the meats to season the filling. When Gu, one of the team members, found that there were still some meats and egg yolks left, she used the yolks to knead the dough and dye it yellow. Her teammates decided to use it to make dumplings in the shape of tulips. Their innovative dumplings won the judges’ admiration and eventually earned them the “Best Creativity Award”.
Dumplings made by “the Center of Couch Potatoes”
While making dumplings, Luo, one of the participants, recalled her primary school days. “I always went to a breakfast stall along the street. I loved to see the stacked-up steamers from which the steam clouded my face. I remember well that the skilled vendor kneaded the dough, stretched it out, topped it with the fillings and then sealed the wrappers.” For her, the steam coming from steamers is linked to those happy days without any fret and burden.
Just as Luo said, “Don’t think too much and make dumplings happily.” This sums up why the Dumpling Making Competition is organized: to enjoy the simple pleasures of daily life.
Participants taking photos
Photo by the Culture and Art Center for Students of Wuhan University
Edited by Li Jing, Wang Yihan, Sylvia, Xi Bingqing
