Ten cold plates, each a blessing. A Wenzhou family's Fensui Jiu opens with ten cold dishes served in vermilion high-footed bowls, representing "perfection in every way." A thin round slice of red radish covers each bowl for good fortune. While selections vary by household, key dishes remain constant: dried soy sauce pork, poached chicken, duck tongues, dried eel, fish cakes, blood cockles, jellyfish, dried shrimp, fish jelly, and Jiangxie Sheng ¡ª raw crab marinated in sauce. Each cold dish carries a specific blessing. Dried eel (xiang) homophonically means "thinking" ¡ª children who eat it are expected to think deeply and work hard. Dried shrimp retain their heads and tails, symbolizing a wish for clear beginnings and complete endings. Duck tongue is prized because each duck has only one: "one in a hundred." Fish cake, white inside and golden outside, signifies "gold and silver." Blood cockles, with white shells traced in fine lines, represent a clear record and open paths ahead.
Ten hot courses, served in sequence. The hot courses follow a fixed order that announces one wish after another. The first course is always stir-fried rice cakes, signifying "rising higher every year." Midway through, a whole steamed fish is served with head and tail intact, as "fish" (yu) is homophonous with "surplus" (yu); a local saying holds that no year is secured without a good yellow croaker. In the traditional layout, the sequence runs: crystal rice cakes, braised pork with dried bamboo shoots, whole chicken with golden needles, whole steamed fish, pig's feet with pancai (a turnip-like winter root), braised fish maw, vermicelli with dried squid, mixed delicacies, pounded fish in three-shred stock ¡ª finishing with Eight-Treasure Rice or red-date-and-longan soup, wishing for wealth to arrive early in the new year.
Rules around the table. The family dines with the door shut, opening it only after the meal ¡ª "close the door to gather wealth, open it for good luck." Local legend attributes this custom to Tieguai Li, one of the Eight Immortals, who inspected households on New Year's Eve to gauge their wealth. If a family member cannot return, a seat is set with chopsticks laid out ¡ª "adding a person to the table." The chair remains empty, but the relative is not forgotten.
The feast extends beyond one home. Many Wenzhou natives recall being taken as children to relatives' homes for Fensui Jiu, where the first hot course was always the same stir-fried rice cakes. House by house, using the same bowls, order, and wishes, the year-dividing meal moves through the extended family so no one misses the New Year greeting. It was never just dinner. Ten vermilion bowls, ten courses, a closed door, an empty seat for someone far away ¡ª every detail conveys the same message: gather those who matter, and share the important words over food.