Caused by the culture differences in the north and south, the ways to make tangyuan and yuanxiao are quite different, but they both are the traditional food during the Lantern Festival.
在中国，元宵、汤团在制作工艺上是两回事，可以说是北方、南方之不同渊源所致，但皆是正月十五元宵节的食品。
As one of the representative delicacies in Han ethnic group, tangyuan is the most typical food for Lantern Festival. It has a long history. Legend said that tangyuan originated from the Song Dynasty(960-1279). At that time, a kind of novel delicacy was in vogue in Mingzhou, now the Ningbo City in Zhejiang province. The food with the black sesame and lard as fillings seasoned by a few sugar and balled with glutinous rice flour tastes sweet and soft. As this kind of glutinous rice balls float up and down in the pot, it is called Fu Yuanzi(as floating balls) at first.
汤圆是中国汉族的代表小吃之一，是元宵节最具有特色的食物。历史悠久。据传，汤圆起源于宋朝。当时明州(现为浙江省宁波市)兴起吃一种新奇食品，即用黑芝麻、猪油做馅、加入少许白砂糖，外面用糯米粉搓成球，煮熟后，吃起来香甜可口，饶有风趣。因为这种糯米球煮在锅里又浮又沉，所以它最早叫“浮元子”。
Yuanxiao is traditionally eaten by Chinese during the Lantern Festival and the Spring Festival. It is officially named as Yuanxiao during the Yongle era of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644)after a series of names such as mianjian, fenguo, yuanbao, tangbing and yuanbuluojiao. It is said that yuanxiao is the symbol of family reunion and eating it means the family happiness and reunion in the new year, so it is a necessity during the Spring Festival.
元宵是一种中国人依照习俗在农历正月十五元宵节和春节烹制食用的食品。曾有多种名称，如面茧、粉果、元宝、汤饼、圆不落角等，明永乐年间正式定名为元宵， 据说元宵象征合家团圆，吃元宵意味新的一年合家幸福、团团圆圆，所以春节必备。
Tangyuan is made in the south as “wrapping up”. The glutinous rice flour is kneaded into dough and then is rounded into a ball after the fillings either with or without meat is wrapped into the dough like dumplings.
南方“包”汤圆。一般将糯米面和好，像包饺子一样将馅包入再团圆，馅料有素有荤。
Yuanxiao is rolled in the north. They always use sweet and solid fillings without meat, cutting the fillings into chunk wetted with some water, and then placing them into the basket filled with glutinous rice flour, and continuously sprinkling water on the rice flour until glutinous rice balls are formed with the fillings at the heart.
北方“滚”元宵。一般只用素的固体甜馅料，将馅料切成小块，蘸上水，在盛满糯米面的笸箩内滚，一边滚一边洒水，使其自然沾满糯米面滚成圆球。
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