The Lunar New Year, China's most important celebration, kicks off a two-week period when families and friends exchange gifts and gather together over extravagant feasts.

As it is very important to start the new year in the most auspicious of circumstances, almost all of the food eaten during the family dinner on New Year's Eve is loaded with positive meaning.

The foods served mainly symbolize good luck, health and prosperity, and draw their special meaning either from their Chinese names or auspicious shapes: Spring rolls, for example, symbolize wealth because their shape resembles that of gold bars; noodles are seen as representing a long life; and the words for tangerines and oranges sound like "luck" and "wealth," respectively. An even number of dishes, often ten or twelve, is served, because in the Chinese culture, multiples of two represent double happiness and fortune.

The most popular New Year food is dumplings, or jiăozi, which resemble in shape the Chinese tael, a unit of measure that is based on the weight of silver, and thus symbolize good fortune. Another common good-luck food is fish.

Symbol of Prosperity

The symbolism linked with eating fish during the New Year stems from its name in Chinese, yu, which sounds like the words for "rich" and "abundance." Added symbolism is achieved by cooking the fish whole, with head and tail intact, as cutting things up during the New Year is considered to bring bad luck. Finally, the ritual also calls for serving half of the fish as the last dish of the New Year's feast and the rest on the following day, as leftovers are considered a sign of prosperity. It is also customary to place the fish on the table so that it points toward the guest of honor.

In Guangzhou, where the tradition of eating a whole fish on New Year's Eve is said to have come from, it is thought that steaming a fish and using only the barest of ingredients to prepare it is the best way to show off its freshness. In northern China, on the other hand, the most popular ways to prepare New Year fish include deep frying and coating a fish with sweet and sour sauce or bean sauce. In general, the Chinese are very particular about the freshness of seafood, and prefer to buy fish from a market where they are sold live.

According to a traditional Cantonese recipe the whole fish, such as tilapia, bass or pickerel, is gutted and cleaned, then steamed with ginger and scallions, and spiced with soy sauce, white pepper and sesame oil. You can steam the fish in a wok, a steamer or in an oven in a roasting pan.

Below is a recipe from China.org for preparing fish north Chinese style with sweet and sour sauce. The dish is prepared in such a way as to retain the appearance of a whole fish, which will help ensure good fortune in the Year of the Rat.Chūnjié kuàilè!

Sweet and Sour Fish in Squirrel Shape
Ingredients:

1 freshwater fish (preferably mandarin fish) of about 750 grams (1.65 lb)
30 grams (1 1/15 oz) shrimps
20 grams (2/3 oz) diced bamboo shoots
20 grams (2/3 oz) diced mushrooms (originally dried mushrooms that have been soaked in water)
15 grams (1/2 oz) green peas
20 grams (4 tsp) cooking wine
150 grams (11 tbsp) sugar
100 grams (6 tbsp) vinegar
100 grams (5 1/2 tbsp) tomato sauce
500 grams (1.1 lb) dry cornstarch (only about 100 g or 0.22 lb to be used)
100 grams (6 tbsp) water
35 grams (2 tbsp) mixture of cornstarch and water
10 grams (2 tsp) sesame oil
1,000 grams (4 cups) oil (200 g or 4/5 cup to be consumed)

Method:

1. Clean the fish, cut off the head near the belly fin, but do not throw it away. Cut open the fish along its back until the cut reaches its tail. (Do not cut off the tail.) Cut out the backbone and remove the side bones (ribs). Make several cuts with 1 cm spaces in between, first vertically and then horizontally on the inner side of the fish to create a diamond-shaped pattern. (Do not cut open the skin.) Marinate the fish with 10 g (2 tsp) of cooking wine and 5 g (5/6 tsp) of salt for 5 minutes. Dust the dry cornstarch on the fish body and head. Hold the fish tail to shake off unnecessary cornstarch.

2. Heat the oil until it is about 200-220oC (390-430oF). Roll the fish to keep the skin inside. Hold the fish tail with one hand and the top end of the fish body with chopsticks and gradually release it into the oil. Now place the head into the oil also. When both are done, take them out and place them on a plate, putting the head and the body together to create the concept of a whole fish.

3. Mix the tomato sauce, water, sugar, 10 g (2 tsp) of cooking wine and 2 g (1/3 tsp) of salt into a sauce.

4. Keep 20 g (1 1/2 tbsp) of oil in the wok. Put in the shrimps, diced bamboo shoots, mushrooms and green peas and stir-fry. Add in the mixed sauce. When the sauce is boiling, put in the cornstarch-water mixture to thicken it. Sprinkle some sesame oil and pour the sauce right onto the fish.