American learns from cultural inheritor to make zongzi

Video and photos by Liu Xudong unless otherwise stated

AT the invitation of Zhang Zhangmei, the fourth-generation inheritor of the Nan’ao sea urchin zongzi cooking techniques, Kiara Lynn Garcia Hernandez from the U.S. went to Nan’ao in Dapeng New Area on May 26 to taste sea urchin zongzi and learn from Zhang how to make her first zongzi to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival, which falls on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, which is today this year.

Zongzi is a signature snack belonging to this Chinese festival and is made of glutinous rice with sweet or salty fillings wrapped in bamboo leaves or reed leaves. Another exciting activity around the holiday is dragon boat races.

Kiara Lynn Garcia Hernandez poses for a photo with zongzi she made with Zhang Zhangmei in Nan'ao, Dapeng New Area, on May 26.

Legend has it that Dragon Boat Festival is celebrated to honor Qu Yuan, a patriotic poet in China’s history who threw himself into a river when he was unable to help his homeland. The locals paddled into the river to save him but, when they realized they couldn’t, threw rice dumplings in to keep fish away.

Three kinds of zongzi with different fillings made during Kiara Lynn Garcia Hernandez's visit to Nan'ao.

Before Hernandez tried her hands on making zongzi, the 25-year-old was first treated with tea and three different flavors of zongzi, namely, tangerine-flavored red bean paste, sea urchin with spiced pork belly and a mixture of dried scallops, shrimp and peanuts and abalone with spiced pork, chestnut, and salty duck egg yolk, as she listened to Zhang tell stories about sea urchin zongzi-making traditions in Nan’ao and how the local delicacies have gained popularity around the whole country.

Zhang Zhangmei (R) shows Kiara Lynn Garcia Hernandez the first step of making zongzi.

According to Zhang, Nan’ao sea urchin zongzi is a specialty of the Tanka people (fisherfolk living on junks and boats in coastal parts of Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, Hainan, Zhejiang, as well as in Hong Kong and Macao) and the history of making sea urchin zongzi dates back to over 200 years ago. Zhang proudly told Shenzhen Daily that she started to practice making zongzi with sand when she was seven or eight years old.

Kiara Lynn Garcia Hernandez follows Zhang Zhangmei to make zongzi.

“I’m really glad to see this in person because I don’t think many people are exposed to small details about food and culture,” Hernandez said, “I like how natural this is and how it shows that people care about the environment here and are giving back to history, remembering where they come from.”

At the beginning of the “tutorial,” Zhang proficiently demonstrated the whole process of making sea urchin zongzi. After Zhang’s demonstration, Hernandez began to follow the tutor’s instructions step by step to make her very first zongzi: positioning reed leaves, filling with layers of sticky rice, a mixture of dried scallops, shrimp and peanuts, fresh sea urchin and spiced pork belly, wrapping leaves and tying the zongzi with twigs.

Kiara Lynn Garcia Hernandez visits some local traditional architecture in Nan'ao.

Zhang told Shenzhen Daily that the ingredients were all naturally sourced, with the reed leaves being collected from the mountain, and the sea urchin harvested from the sea, which were in their best season.

Hernandez said she enjoyed learning making zongzi because it reminded her of how people in her culture use banana leaves and rice to make a snack in similar ways. “When I saw Ms. Zhang teach us how to make zongzi, it felt like home to me, just in a different kind of way.”

Local residents in Nan'ao make zongzi.

In 2021, the Nan’ao sea urchin zongzi was elevated from a district-level to a city-level intangible cultural heritage. In the same year, the specialty ranked in the number one spot on the “Shenzhen companion gifts” list.

Before saying goodbye, Zhang gave the American a box of sea urchin zongzi as a gift. Hernandez said she would share them with her teachers and friends. “I was thinking about celebrating the Dragon Boat Festival with friends. It’s just good timing, now I can share zongzi with friends,” she said.

Zhang Zhangmei and Kiara Lynn Garcia Hernandez pose for a photo with a gift package to the visiting American.

Hernandez told Shenzhen Daily that she admired Zhang’s commitment to passing on and promoting the sea urchin zongzi cooking techniques as an intangible cultural heritage. “People take a lot of pride in this (intangible cultural heritage), it's really nice to know this about Shenzhen,” she said, “There are not many people or families that can say they’ve kept on this legacy or this tradition for such a long time. I think it is important to show other people the culture here and to continue carrying the traditions. Because if someone doesn’t, how will they continue?”

An aerial view of Nan'ao.

Hernandez came to Shenzhen in 2019 and worked as an English teacher at a training center. One year later, she quit the job and attended a Chinese program at Shenzhen Polytechnic to learn Chinese. In her spare time, she organizes painting classes to teach people to paint and to make friends.

Hernandez has been learning Chinese for a year and she is very interested in Chinese language and culture, as she believes understanding Chinese and its culture will help her understand and help people with a Chinese background. “I’m learning and I don’t quite have a direct goal, but I know that in some way, I can use my ability to talk and understand to help others,” she said.