Beyond the hearth, zongzi still the heart of holiday

When Lin Kai bites into a zongzi during Dragon Boat Festival, he doesn't think about prestige brands, gift boxes or online discounts.

He reminisces about a kitchen in Anhui province, where his grandparents sat by the stove, folded bamboo leaves, and filled them with soaked glutinous rice and pork.

When he was a child, they taught him how to tie each dumpling tight enough to hold together in the pot. The 40-year-old Beijing office worker remembers his first clumsy attempts at making the dumplings. He folded the leaves incorrectly with the rice spilling out, and the zongzi often came loose while boiling in the pot. But his grandparents never scolded him.

"Even if a zongzi I made looked ugly, it tasted especially good," he said. "The whole family was there, talking and laughing. That was the taste of the festival."

A traditional Chinese delicacy, the zongzi is a pyramid-shaped dumpling made of glutinous rice wrapped in bamboo or reed leaves. It is especially loved as a treat during the Dragon Boat Festival.

Lin still prepares zongzi every Dragon Boat Festival, but rarely by hand these days. Like many urbanites, he usually buys ready-made ones from the supermarket or e-commerce platforms. Some are classic pork zongzi, some come in gift boxes, and others are lighter, healthier versions with less sugar and oil and fewer additives.

This shift from making to purchasing zongzi has become one of the most notable changes of today's Dragon Boat Festival. Once a seasonal food made at home with little packaging or a price premium, the zongzi has moved from the family kitchen to supermarket shelves, livestreaming rooms and social media feeds. Nonetheless, it remains a symbol of the festival.

According to the 2025 China Zongzi Industry Consumption and Brand White Paper released by China Data Technology, China's zongzi market was expected to reach 11 billion yuan ($1.52 billion) in 2025, with year-on-year growth of about 7 percent.

The country's zongzi output rose from 450,000 metric tons in 2021 to 560,000 in 2024.

The white paper said the growth has been driven by the revival of traditional culture, the expansion of holiday gifting and the integration of zongzi with tourism and cultural experiences. It also reflected a broader shift in Chinese food consumption from simply "eating enough" to "eating better", as consumers placed more emphasis on quality, nutrition, convenience and emotional value.