Every year, from mid-March to early April, as the Qingming Festival approaches, Zhang Min's life is around the green rice balls known (36)
as
qingtuan.
A native of Shanghai in her early 50s, Zhang (37)
previously
(previous) ran a restaurant for over a decade. Thanks to her wonderful cooking skills, she (38)
has won
(win) a loyal following since she shared her tasty treats in the media.
The delicacy is made of rice flour (39)
mixed
(mix) with fresh green grass juice. In recent years, driven by key influencers on social media and the public generated by new brands introduced every year by Shanghai food firms, (40)
the
popularity of this seasonal delicacy has got to nearly every corner of the country, beyond (41)
its
(it) traditional production area in Jiangnan.
This increase in popularity is clear not only in the long (42)
lines
(line) forming outside Shanghai's historic stores but also in the hundreds of thousands of orders placed on e-commerce platforms.
For Zhang, the (43)
growing
(grow) popularity of qingtuan means a flood of orders from her friends and relatives in the three weeks leading up to Qingming. Nevertheless, she welcomes the (44)
busiest
(busy) season of the year and celebrates the popularity of qingtuan, (45)
which
she says shows the magic of Chinese cooking tradition.
