Chinese New Year's Eve dinner is an important Spring Festival tradition for Chinese families. It signifies togetherness, wealth and hope for the future.

Shanghai locals place a strong emphasis on Chinese New Year's Eve dinner, consuming cold dishes, hot dishes, and dim sum. The dinner is not just about quality ingredients but also about the flavor, appearance, and meaning behind the food.

Sliced Cold Chicken

This staple cold dish on Shanghai New Year's Eve dinner tables, also known as the "meeting dish", is gold in color with white meat and tastes tender and delicious. The Chinese word for "chicken" sounds like the word for "auspicious", symbolizing good luck and prosperity. It is common to give children chicken wings, which symbolize flying high and achieving success.

Sixi Spongy Wheat Gluten

Sixi kaofu, or sixi spongy wheat gluten, is made by fermenting and steaming wheat flour to produce gluten, often mistaken for a soy product due to its honeycomb-like appearance. The name of the food sounds like "relying on a husband" in Chinese, symbolizing the hope that male members of the family will achieve greater success in the coming year. The spongy wheat gluten is combined with day lilies, edible tree fungus, and peanuts, which together are the four ingredients forming sixi or literally the "Four Happinesses". The dish has a rich and aromatic sauce and a chewy, crispy texture. The sweet, salty, and fresh sauce explodes in the mouth when eaten, satisfying the sweet tongues of Shanghai locals.

Shanghai Salad

Diced potatoes and sausage, along with peas, are mixed with egg yolk and salad oil and stirred in one direction until they can hold up chopsticks, resulting in a childhood delicacy. Foreign salads just can't compare!

Jellyfish Salad

This dish is not only affordable but also delicious. The crispy texture of jellyfish and shredded radish, without the need for excessive seasoning, is enhanced by the aroma of scallion oil, making it irresistible.

Shanghai Deep-fried Fish

If your Shanghai friends invite you to eat "baoyu", be sure to clarify because it's likely not abalone they are referring to but a local specialty known as Shanghai Deep-fried Fish. The Shanghai New Year's Eve dinner menu is simply not complete without this sweet and fragrant dish. Its Chinese name literally means "abundance every year" and it conveys a sense of bursting with success.

Sweet and Sour Spareribs

For Shanghai locals who love rich and flavorful dishes, sweet and sour spareribs are a must! It's tender, succulent, sweet, and sour, boasts a perfect balance of lean and fat, is glazed with a shiny red sauce and sprinkled with white sesame seeds. Its delicate texture makes it a favorite among young and old alike.

Steamed Dried Salted Marine Eel

This is a popular New Year's Eve dish among those from Ningbo, Zhejiang province residing in Shanghai. Only after the eel has been dried by the northwest wind does it possess its signature unique and fragrant flavor. The dish requires no additional seasoning; simply steam it, then tear it into strips by hand and enjoy its natural and fresh taste. Some people like dipping it in vinegar.

Glutinous Rice with Red Dates

Due to its appearance, glutinous rice with red dates is also known as the "smiling mouth", symbolizing a year filled with joy.

Sources: chinadaily.com.cn, Xinmin Evening News, WeChat account of Publicity Administration of Jiading District via "sh-jiading", "shanghaifabu" WeChat account, IC