参考答案:
In some parts of north China, people have jiaozi soup on this day; while residents of some other places eat jiaozi, saying doing so will keep them from frost in the upcoming winter. But in south China, it is commonplace for the whole family to get together to have a meal made of red beans and glutinous rice. They believe, by doing this, they can drive away ghosts and other evil things. In other places, people also eat tangyuan, a kind of stuffed small dumpling ball made of glutinous rice flour. The Winter Solstice rice dumplings may be used as sacrifices to ancestors, or gifts for friends and relatives. The Taiwanese even keep the custom of offering nine-layer cakes to their ancestors. They made cakes in the shape of chicken, duck, tortoise, pig, cow or sheep with glutinous rice flour and steam them on different layers of a pot. These animals all signify auspiciousness in Chinese tradition.
