It has existed since ancient times for young men and women in love to express their yearning for each other with food. In the Book of Songs, there are records like “throw plum” and “throw papaya”. In ancient times, when fruits were ripe in summer, young men and women would gather in the forest, throwing plums and papayas at each other to choose a lover. In the poem Lovesickness by Wang Wei of the Tang Dynasty, red bean was the pledge of love for men and women of the Han Chinese. Today, a lot of people still express love with food but cannot equal their ancestors. In some ethnic minorities, however, such practices still hold particular flavors of the ancient times.
Source:
http://traditions.cultural-china.com/en/42Traditions2413.html
