Archaeologists have found new evidence that explains why a popular Chinese food has been wrapped in leaves for more than two millennia. The discovery comes from a royal tomb in China and points to a tradition far older than previously confirmed.
Researchers studied plant bundles found inside the tomb of King Kaolie of Chu, a ruler who died in 238 BC. The tomb, known as the Wuwangdun Site, was excavated under waterlogged conditions that helped preserve the ancient materials.
Scientists dated the bundles to about 2,200 years ago, placing them firmly within the late Warring States period. The bundles closely resemble modern zongzi, a sticky rice dish wrapped in leaves and eaten during the Dragon Boat Festival.
The study, led by Yong Ge of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing, found that the bundles contained rice, broomcorn millet, and foxtail millet. The grains were wrapped in oak leaves and tied together with a cord made from grass plants.
Ancient tomb reveals why Chinese food was wrapped in leaves
Ge’s team examined twelve bundles in the lab. Most of the grains inside were just empty husks rather than whole seeds. That detail matters, researchers said, because it shows the bundles were not meant as food. Instead, they likely served as offerings placed in the tomb for ritual purposes.
This finding lines up with a famous Chinese legend. The story centers on Qu Yuan, a poet and politician who lived around the same era and reportedly drowned himself in a river.
Legend has it that people threw rice wrapped in leaves into the water to keep fish away from his body. Until now, solid proof linking that legend to an actual ritual practice had been missing.
The earliest confirmed written records of zongzi date back only to the Song Dynasty, leaving a gap of more than a thousand years.
Grain husks point to ritual offerings, not food
Researchers also found traces of wheat and barley pollen in the bundles, along with seeds from spices and a common weed. These materials, the study noted, support the idea that the bundles were symbolic rather than something meant to be eaten.
Notably, people in parts of Shandong, Shanxi, and Henan still use the same type of oak leaves to wrap zongzi today. Those regions once sat along the northern edge of the ancient Chu Kingdom, suggesting the custom has survived largely unchanged for over 2,000 years.
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