Sheguo (Herbal Rice Cakes)

Last updated 2026-11-10 — Sheguo: During the “Spring Sacrificial Rite” (Chun She), Qingyuan has the custom of making “pan-fried Sheguo.” Every spring, on the field ridges and damp slopes, there grows a yellow-flowering herbaceous plant commonly known as “Shequ” (scientific name: Gnaphalium affine, or “cudweed”). When the season of Chun She arrives and the tender shoots of Shequ begin to sprout, groups of women head up the mountains to pick them. They then pound the herbs in a mortar into a sticky, paste-like consistency, which is mixed with glutinous rice slurry and pan-fried into thin pancakes called “Sheguo.” These cakes are an inviting emerald green in color, have a fragrant and delicious taste, and also offer medicinal benefits such as relieving coughs, regulating qi, and drying dampness.