Whole Fish
The Chinese word for fish sounds like the word for abundance （盈余），says Zhang. It's important that the fish is served with the head and tail whole, writes Zhang, " to make sure of a good start and finish and to avoid bad luck throughout the year. "
Sweets
Serving desserts brings a sweet life in the new year. Zhang writes that a childhood favourite was the plate full of sunflower seeds and different candies, especially chocolates with wine in them.
Yuanbao （Jiaozi）
"In North China, everyone eats the jiaozi dumplings," says Mr. Zhang "Families will make a dough（面团）and wrap it around pork and cabbage, and boil the dumplings, then serve them with vinegar and soy sauce. You can wrap them in the shape of an old silver ingot（银锭）. "Zhang writes that during New Year celebrations jiaozi are called yuanbao, referring to the ancient, ingot 一 shaped Chinese coin, and that eating them is said to bring wealth. While making them, families sometimes wrap good - luck foods like peanuts （to bring long life） or a coin into some of them.
