Jiaochangying Glutinous Rice Balls 角场营元宵
Jiaochangying Glutinous Rice Balls is featured among the local specialties of Henan.
Jiaochangying Glutinous Rice Balls (角场营元宵) are associated with Jiaochangying village (角场营村) in Xun County (浚县), Hebi (鹤壁). Village resident and maker Liu Xizeng (刘希增) forms them by repeatedly moistening firm pieces of filling and rolling them in glutinous-rice flour.
A filling prepared in advance
In a 2021 interview with Anyang Daily, Liu describes mixing sesame, peanuts and other ingredients, shaping the mixture into squares about two centimetres across, then leaving them in a ventilated place until dry. He stresses that evenly sized pieces are necessary if the finished rice balls are to be round and uniform.
Building the coating by rolling
The filling pieces tumble through flour, becoming small white balls. Repeated wetting and rolling add further layers, gradually enlarging each one. Liu previously used a woven basket, shaking it with his wife so that rice flour built up around the centres. He later adopted an electric rolling drum while continuing to prepare the filling by hand.
The essential sequence remains grinding the flour, making the filling, moistening and rolling. Liu had practised the craft for thirty-five years when Anyang Daily visited his workshop in Anyang (安阳).
Sources & reading
Written from the linked sources and fact-checked against them on 2026-09-26. Recipes and servings vary between kitchens.