The story of baozi begins with the story of mantou, a simple steamed bread dumpling. Legend has it that mantou was invented by Zhuge Liang (181-234 CE), a military strategist who was leading the Shu Army into southern China. During the Three Kingdoms Period after the downfall of the Han Dynasty rulers, the Chinese empire was is a state of disunity and Zhuge Liang’s army from the north was likely invading modern-day Yunan and northern Burma, which was the state of Wu.

After defeating a barbarian king, Zhuge Liang and his army encountered a river too swift to cross. According to legend, armies would sacrifice 50 men and then toss the heads into the river to please the river gods. However, Zhuge Liang wanted to avoid more human bloodshed. Instead, Liang decided to kill cows and horses traveling with the army, and used the meat in buns shaped like human heads. The flat-based buns were thrown into the river and were later named mantou, which translates to “barbarian’s head.”

Does the legend of Zhuge Liang have foundations in historical truth? Research confirms that the technology required for baozi did in fact exist during the time period following the Han Dynasty. During the Han period, grains commonly were ground into flour and cooked into dumplings and noodles (Newman 2004, 4).

To avoid the lengthy process of cooking wheat whole, the Chinese devised a method of grinding wheat into flour in the 5th century BC. However, the specific origins of flourmills are unknown. The grinding technology became widespread in China during the first century CE.

The annexation of parts of southern China during the Han Dynasty encouraged the development of different regional culinary traditions. Meat and cereals such as millet and wheat sustained people in northern China; meanwhile, conquered southern regions were dependent upon rice vegetables, fruit, and fish (Culinaria, 12).