Jiaozi, or dumplings, is a special dish for Chinese people during Spring Festival. Started in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), the tradition of having jiaozi at midnight on New Year's Eve or for breakfast on New Year's Day has remained for around five centuries. In the shape of money for ancient Chinese, jiaozi has become a symbol of good fortune for the coming year. Do you know what are the fillings for Chinese dumplings? What kind of dumplings do you like? Metro Beijing hits the street to find out.

David Orchard, UK, brand development manager

You know sometimes it's better not to ask what's inside jiaozi - you may have a big surprise. European people sometimes are worried that they eat funny parts of animals but I know Chinese people like it very much. If you tell me there are lungs or some other parts of animals, I won't have any appetite for the food. I definitely don't want to know what are the stuffings in jiaozi. And a big problem for foreigners is that when Chinese people serve it with the black sauce, we do not know whether it's vinegar or soy sauce. We like soy sauce, but we don't drink vinegar for health like Chinese people do.

Severine Chomat, France, sales director

I just arrived in China and had the dumplings yesterday. I really like it because it's simple, fresh and there's not much oil in it. There were dumplings stuffed with mushrooms, vegetables and shrimp, and I like the vegetable ones the most. I don't like to cook and I think making dumplings would be difficult.

Alex Clem, US, part-time teacher

I've been to a couple of dumpling places and also have gotten them in Walmart. My American friends recommended them to me and we tried one kind of pork and another of vegetables with eggs. In America we also have something similar to dumplings called "pot-stickers," but you fry them instead of boiling them. They got the name because they stick to the pan when you are frying them.

Sara Braun, Germany, intern at a publishing company

I had dumplings in a Chinese restaurant. I believe they had meat and eggs in them. I'm a vegetarian so I like dumplings without any meat in them.

Bhabna Arumu and Chole Bristow, Australia, students

We tried lots of dumplings and wontons and really like them. They usually have pork in the dumplings and different kinds of vegetables. They like to put spinach in them, too. We don't want to make dumplings because it seems very difficult.

Alex Depaula, US, director of an engineering company

I had the dumplings in a restaurant in Beijing. The filling was pork and they tasted really good. I've never tried making dumplings myself but I have some friends who have, so I will ask them how to do it. If I'm making dumplings myself, I would put chicken in them and I'd like them spicy.

Chris Scott, US, commercial real estate broker

My favorite stuffings for jiaozi are Chinese chives with eggs. I like vegetables like jiu cai (Chinese chives) and qin cai (celery). I once helped a Chinese family making jiaozi on New Year's Eve. I taught their daughter English and the chef taught me how to cook Chinese food.

Nils Hanson, Germany, auditor

I have read about Chinese dumplings in an article in Germany and one of my colleagues invited me to cook some last Saturday. She and her mom cooked and we tried to help. It involved a lot of teamwork. I ate the dumplings but I don't know the stuffings for the dumplings, maybe some pork, chicken, shrimp, vegetables. I like the Chinese styles very much - they are good as they come.

Global Times