The North Beach Festival may be known for its Italian heritage, but when it returns this weekend, it'll also be getting an infusion of Chinese culture. On Saturday from noon-2pm, Chinatown elders will sing, dance and demonstrate how to make zhongzi, a "Chinese tamale," in front of the New Sun Hong Kong restaurant at 606 Broadway St. They'll also perform and make zhongzi at 4:30pm at the corner of Grant and Commercial, just as the weekly parade of lion dancers goes by.
Organizing the effort is Wilma Pang, who's committed to preserving Chinese culture and traditions for future generations. "I watched my mother make [zhongzi] every year," says Pang, who adds that younger Chinese mostly buy them these days.
Wilma Pang cutting zhongzi.
Zhongzi are made by folding sticky rice around a variety of fillings. Pang's recipe includes rice, salt, sugar, shelled peanuts, dried shrimp, mushrooms, Chinese sausage, salted pork, chestnuts and egg yolk. Like tamales, the rice loaves are wrapped in dried ti leaves that have been soaked so they don't split apart, then steamed or boiled. They're cut in half by using a string held between the teeth and pulled.
Zhongzi ingredients.
Pang says zhongzi are traditionally made around this time of year, the fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar. They're eaten to honor the death of Qu Yuan, a Chinese poet who drowned himself in a river in the 2nd century BC, stricken with grief over the capture of his home kingdom, Chu, by the state of Qin. People threw rice in the river so the fish wouldn't eat his body. For those looking to learn more, the Smithsonian has more information on Qu Yuan, and how his death also ties in with the traditional dragon boat festival.
“Wilma keeps the Chinese traditions,” says Lotus Yee Fong, a friend of Pang's. “We go look it up in an English book, because we might not have gotten it from our parents.”
So stop by the Language of the Birds Plaza in front of New Sun Hong Kong if you're at the North Beach Festival on Saturday. The festival runs 10am–6pm Saturday and Sunday and features more than 125 arts and crafts booths, 20 food booths, two stages of live entertainment, a beverage garden, Italian street painting, a kids' chalk area and the blessing of the animals from 2–3pm both days at the National Shrine of St. Francis of Assisi at 610 Vallejo St.
Check out this map for where to find it and street closures; parts of Columbus, Grant and Green in the heart of the business district will be shut down. Traffic will be re-routed in the area, so don't even think about driving around there. The festival is the largest fundraiser of the year for the North Beach Business Association, raising around $50,000.
