People eat cakes on their birthdays in Western cultures. But in Eastern culture, especially older generations Chinese, eating noodles is a must during this happy occasion. The noodle Chinese eat on birthdays is called 寿面 shòu miàn. 寿面 (壽麵) in English means long noodles. The noodles Chinese eat on birthdays symbolizes a long life. Another name of noodles eaten on birthday is birthday noodles.

The Chinese word 寿 shòu means life or age in English. 面miàn translated to English can mean noodles or face.

Story of eating 寿面

The tradition of eating Shou mian dates back to the Western Han dynasty. According to historical data, in the early stage of Western Han, the dynasty ruled by Han Emperor Liu Che Emperor Liu Che was into Confucianism and Taoism. He especially was into pursuing immortality.

One day, after discussing the state affairs with his ministers, Emperor Liu Che started talking about things concerning longevity. He said there is a saying “脸长就寿长“liǎn zhǎng jiù shòu zhǎng, long face means long life. In accordance to a book on physiognomy, if a person’s philtrum (the space between your nose and upper lip) is 1cm long, this meant this person can live to be 100 years old. Upon hearing this, all the ministers except Dong Fang Shuo nodded in agreement.  Dong Fang Shuo, a Han scholar-official, laughed and said that then the legendary Peng Zu, who lived over 834 years in the Shang dynasty must have had a really long face. Everyone burst out laughing and realized that it was quite silly to wish a long face with having a long life

This saying spread far and wide and the phrase “脸长就是面长 (liǎn chǎng jiù shì miàn chǎng)” was born. People started playing with words because the Chinese words 脸 (liǎn) and “面 (miàn)” both mean “face,” and “面 (miàn)” also means noodles. Thus the tradition of eating long noodles for a long life was born.

How do the Chinese eat birthday noodles?

The custom of eating 寿面 shòu miàn varies.

• In some places, a person will pick the noodle from a bowl to a very high position, and ask the rest “is it long?”, the rest will say “long”, and this person will place the noodle in each person’s bowl.

• In some places, everyone has to pick up a few noodles in their bowls and put them in the bowls of the elderlies. They will then say auspicious words such as “blessings and longevity”.

• When eating the birthday noodles, it is unlucky to break the noodles. Your lifespan will become shorter if the noodles are broken.

• Some places believed that the noodles cannot be full, because “full life” is also unlucky.

• When celebrating birthdays, it is customary to serve the longevity noodles with two eggs. This is because eggs can hatch chickens, which is a symbol of life. Together with the long noodles, it represents people’s expectations and wishes for longevity.

• In some places, before eating the eggs, they boiled and peeled the eggs. After that, they will rolled the egg on the face before finally eating it. This is called “滚运 Gǔn yùn – rolling Luck” which symbolizes good luck in the New Year.

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