Zhang Yi wrote Guangya, a Three Kingdoms-era dictionary that mentions jiaozi.
Guangya was compiled around 230 CE during the Cao Wei period of the Three Kingdoms era. Zhang Yi, whose name is also written Zhang Yi or Zhang 揖 in English-language romanization, created it as a supplement to the older Erya, an important Chinese lexicographical work. Guangya organized words by semantic categories and expanded the earlier dictionary’s vocabulary.
The reference to jiaozi is significant because it places the dumpling in a written lexical record from antiquity. Zhang Yi should not be confused with Zhang Zhongjing, the Eastern Han physician traditionally credited in later stories with inventing jiaozi, or with Yan Zhitui, a sixth-century writer who also described dumplings. Guangya was later known as Boya because of a naming taboo connected with Emperor Yang of Sui.