Wrapped in bamboo leaves and stuffed with glutinous rice and other fillings, rice dumplings, or zongzi, are an inseparable part of the annual Dragon Boat Festival. But what I didn't know, is that they're made year-round.

Hu Jianmin, the inheritor of the zongzi craft at Wu Fang Zhai — a famous brand in Jiaxing, east China's Zhejiang Province, showed me the process step-by-step.

The leaves are folded into a cone, filled with glutinous rice, and in this case two slices of pork and one slice of fat (but the possibilities are endless), shaped into a triangle, closed with the leaves, and then sealed tightly in a dizzying whirl of string.

The zongzi is flipped, twisted and spun like a Rubik's Cube before the finished product is ready.

While Hu is experienced enough to perform the maneuver in his sleep, and still produce a tightly bound dumpling, I found it to be quite a challenge.

The finished zongzi should have proportionate dimensions, sharp corners and a consistent weight.

All of this is done without machinery, just the feel of the hands and years of practice and tradition as a guide.

Reporter: Matthew Arrington Watson

Scriptwriters: Matthew Arrington Watson, Wu Yan

Editor: Wu Yan

Copy editor: Henry Weimin

Chief editor: Chen Ran

Cover image designer: Du Chenxin

Executive producer: Zhang Xiaohe

Producer: Si Nan

Supervisor: Zhang Shilei