Verified in Shanghai.
Zongzi (glutinous rice dumplings) is a signature dish of China; we have verified places to eat it in Shanghai. Start with where to eat Zongzi (glutinous rice dumplings) in Shanghai.
Zongzi are glutinous rice dumplings wrapped in bamboo leaves and simmered for hours, eaten across China at the Dragon Boat Festival, with Shanghai favouring pork, salted egg yolk and sweet red bean fillings.
Zongzi were once known as jiaoshu for their angular, leaf wrapped shape and originally used millet rather than rice. By the Jin dynasty, eating leaf wrapped dumplings around the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, near the summer solstice, was already an established custom, later tied to the story of the poet Qu Yuan and offerings thrown into the Miluo River after his death. During the Ming and Qing dynasties the dumplings also picked up a good luck meaning around examinations, since brush shaped zongzi sounded like the phrase for certain success. Shanghai's old pastry brands now sell both savoury pork versions and sweet red bean and jujube fillings each year around the festival.
Where to eat in Shanghai:
Where to eat Zongzi (glutinous rice dumplings) in Shanghai: the editor picks
4 hours
Immerse yourself in Chinese culture with a Kung Fu class and a soup dumpling workshop in Shanghai. Choose between Tai Chi or Wing Chun, then learn to make dumplings fr...
Day trip · 9 hours
Discover the beauty of Suzhou on a day trip from Shanghai. Visit the Humble Administrator's Garden, stroll through Shantang Street, and learn to make dumplings with a ...
Guided tour · 3 hours
Learn to cook two classic Chinese dishes in a cooking class in Shanghai. Visit a traditional wet market to select fresh ingredients and enjoy a hands-on cooking class ...
