Also referred to as wrap rice, fake or vegetable rice balls. Preparation method: Lay cabbage or pickled Chinese cabbage leaves flat on the palm, top with cooked millet rice (millet was the staple historically), stir-fried dishes, green shallots and soybean paste. Fold the leaves tightly by hand, either rolling into long handheld tubes or forming round balls held with both hands. Leaf choices, rice and fillings shift with seasonal produce.

A folk legend explains its origin. Long ago, Nurhaci, the Elder Khan, led the Eight Banners troops to besiege Fushun for days on end. Townsfolk delivered daily meals to the soldiers. After capturing the city in victory, Nurhaci ordered an immediate pursuit of Ming troops with no rest. The townsfolk had just finished cooking when the march command arrived. Bound by military discipline, the hungry soldiers dared not linger to eat.

A village wife watching the starving soldiers hurried to find a solution and told the troops lodging at her home they could take food on the road. Lacking any food containers, the soldiers doubted her words. Without reply, she fetched wilted cabbage leaves from outside, rinsed them, spread them flat, spooned meat and rice onto each leaf, wrapped them into large vegetable balls, and handed one to each soldier. Grateful and surprised, the soldiers rushed off with the wraps.

Nurhaci marched dozens of li without eating, and a heavy rain struck mid-chase. His troops were exhausted and ravenous, with soaked ground making cooking impossible. As he grew anxious and hungry, the soldiers carrying vegetable wraps offered their food to him. Nurhaci held the large wraps and ate heartily. As the old saying goes: Bran tastes like honey when starving, yet honey loses sweetness when full. The wraps tasted incomparably delicious to the hungry khan. After finishing, he asked where the wraps came from, and the soldiers recounted the village wife’s clever idea. Slapping his thigh, Nurhaci praised her ingenuity, declaring the troops would never go hungry on campaigns again.

From then on, during every military march, Nurhaci ordered townsfolk to prepare vegetable rice balls for soldiers to carry. This practice gradually evolved into a folk custom, becoming a unique Manchu food passed down to this day.