The Cold Food Festival commemorates Jie Zitui, a loyal minister of the Spring and Autumn period

The Cold Food Festival is said to commemorate Jie Zitui, a loyal minister of the State of Jin during the Spring and Autumn period. He followed Prince Chong'er of Jin into exile for many years, and legend has it that during the hardest times he cut flesh from his own thigh to feed Chong'er, and he is regarded as a representative figure of loyalty and righteousness.

After Chong'er returned to his home state and ascended the throne as Duke Wen of Jin, Jie Zitui did not seek fame or profit when rewards were given to meritorious officials, and instead withdrew with his mother to Mount Mian. Legend has it that Duke Wen of Jin set fire to the mountain to force him out, but Jie Zitui refused to come out to the end and ultimately died embracing a tree. Moved by his loyalty and righteousness, Duke Wen of Jin ordered that no fires be lit around the day of his death, so people could only eat cold food, and the Cold Food Festival got its name from this.

The Cold Food Festival generally falls one or two days before the Qingming solar term. Folk customs include eating cold foods such as qingtuan, cold food porridge and Zitui buns; these foods are mostly made from seasonal grains and wild vegetables and are full of the taste of spring. This is the busy farming season for spring plowing and spring sowing, and many farming families arrange their field work according to the solar terms, or take advantage of the spring light to go out for a walk in the countryside.

As time has passed, the customs of the Cold Food Festival and the Qingming Festival have gradually merged, and many places now celebrate the two festivals together. But the story of Jie Zitui is still widely told, and the feelings of gratitude and remembrance carried by the Cold Food Festival have remained in traditional festival culture all along.