I first came across this interesting looking dumplings (Or are they dumplings at all?) in LA's Chinatown. In my background and culture, I am very familiar with different stuffed leaves and foods. From stuffed grape leaves (Dolmas), and stuffed cabbage, to stuffed onions, peppers and eggplants.  These dumplings, however, are quite different.

Zongzi  is a traditional Chinese rice dish made of glutinous rice stuffed with different fillings and wrapped in bamboo leaves (generally of the species Indocalamus tessellatus), or sometimes with reed or other large flat leaves.

From region to region, there are huge differences in the selection of stuffing and bamboo or lotus leaves for a rice dumpling. Even the shape and method of wrapping can vary. For example, in the old days, when people prevailed to sacrifice with ox horns in the Han and Jin dynasties, the shape of the rice dumpling was designed to be more angular for the sake of the ceremony. In general, the shapes of rice dumplings are tetrahedral, rectangular, or conic.

In China, people eat Zongzi during the Dragon Boat Festival to memorialize Qu Yuan, a famous Chinese poet who lived 2300 years ago in State of Chu inWarring States Period. ... In order to keep his body safe in the water, many people threw Zongzi into the river to prevent the fishes from eating his body.

Autumn Period (approximately 771- 476 BC). It was first used in ceremonies to worship ancestors and gods. Since the Jin Dynasty (266 – 420 AD), rice dumpling had become an iconic food for Dragon Boat Festival. From ancient times on, every year at the beginning of the lunar calendar in May, each family in China has to prepare glutinous rice, wash the leaves, and make some rice dumplings to celebrate the Dragon-Boat Festival. Both the selection of the leaves and the fillings for the rice dumplings have changed over time, from a traditional style to a modern style. As one of the most profound traditional food in Chinese history and culture, rice dumpling had also spread around some Asian countries. In countries like Japan, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Burma, etc., you can see the habit of eating rice dumplings at places where overseas Chinese live.

They can be filled with sticky rice, pork meat and mushrooms, eggs, or any other stuffing depending on the culture.  

In Singapore, Indonesia, Taiwan and Malaysia, zongzi is known as bakcang, bacang, or zang. Similarly, zongzi is more popularly known as machang among Chinese Filipinos in the Philippines.