Seven-vegetable stew
On the seventh of the first month, the day of humankind, seven vegetables are boiled in one pot for the sake of the sound of their names.
Pronunciation qī yàng gēng｜Food and tea｜One entry in the Chaoshan glossary
What it means
Seven vegetables boiled down together into one stew. The list differs from village to village and household to household; the common run is mustard greens, gai lan, Chinese chives, chun cai, celery, garlic and houhe. What is wanted is the sound: qin for diligence, suan for reckoning, cong for cleverness, jiu for lasting.
The seven need not be fixed: get seven seasonal greens and it passes. They are all cut into lengths and boiled together — no stir-frying, no seasoning in the wok. Into boiling water, two boils and off the heat, little oil and light salt, so that what you taste is the vegetables themselves.
When you eat it
The seventh of the first month, the day of humankind. By that day one stretch of the New Year is over, and a pot of greens presses down the grease of the days before.
Words easily confused
The seven-vegetable stew is the pot of greens on the seventh of the first month and has nothing to do with the festival rice cakes; “geng” here means what has been boiled down into one pot, not a thickened soup.
Read next: Renri and the seven-vegetable stew.
Same group: the eight festivals of the year, winter-festival balls, rice cakes.
Home › Glossary › Food and tea › Seven-vegetable stew
Text on this site is CC BY-SA 4.0; copyright in images is reserved and commercial use requires a separate licence.
Last revised: 3 November 2026