User:Arielbai/Zao tang

Zaotang (Chinese: 灶糖； Pinyin: Zào Táng) is a kind of candy made of malt sugar that people in China use to worship kitchen god around the twenty third day of the twelfth lunar month just before Chinese New Year. There are major two types of Zaotang, one is called Guandong tang (Chinese: 关东糖； Pinyin: Guān Dōng Táng) and another is Tanggua (Chinese: 糖瓜； Pinyin: Táng Guā). Guandong tang refers to those elongated candies with

It is said that the kitchen god will return to Heaven to report the activities of every household over the past year to the Jade Emperor on the 23th of 12th lunar month. People offer Zaotang to Kitchen God to sweeten his words to the Jade Emperor or to keep his lips stuck together to prevent bad words.

Origin
The tradition of people offering sacrifice to kitchen god can be found in ancient Chinese literature. Houhan Shu （后汉书，The Record of Donghan Dynasty) recorded a man offered an antelope as sacrifice to Kitchen God thus got the bless from the Kitchen God and gained and retained fortune and frame for three generations.

Reference

 * Lu,Xun(1925). "Song Zao Ri Manbi (送灶日漫笔， Essay on the day to send Zao Jun)"，The People's Literature Publishing House, Beijing. ISBN 9787546334899