Niang-gÄo (rise cake; new year cake) is a traditional Han food that is steamed with sticky rice or rice flour. It is the food of the Chinese New Year. During the Spring Festival, many regions in China have devoted themselves to eating rice cakes. There are yellow and white rice cakes, which symbolize gold and silver. The rice cake is also called “year-old rice cakeâ€. It is a homonym with “high in the year.†It means that people’s work and life increase year by year. Therefore, the predecessors have the poem called the rice cake: “The meaning of the rice cake is slightly darker and the white is like silver and yellow gold. The year-old-year-old is looking forward to a high degree of interest, and sincerely wishing for money.†Another old Beijing tradition is known under the name “money cake moneyâ€.
The rice cake contains nutrients and healthy elements such as protein, fat, carbohydrate, niacin, calcium, phosphorus, potassium, and magnesium.