BEIJING, March 5 (Xinhua) -- Eat, this most ordinary thing, Yuan Hongqi has studied for 45 years. However, she studied "eating" in the Forbidden City.
In January this year, the Forbidden City Banquet, which brings together Yuan Hongqi's research results for many years, was released. Recently, she was interviewed by the China News Network reporter and told about the "eating" in the Forbidden City, which is also another side of the history of the Forbidden City.
Yuan Hongqi. Courtesy of respondents
In 1976, Yuan Hongqi came to work at the Palace Museum. At that time, she was assigned to work in the court group.
"This group mainly studies court life, but also studies court exhibitions and court life artifacts. After I came to the Forbidden City in 1976, I came into contact with the cultural relics of court life, such as food and drinking life, with rows and rows, cabinets and cabinets. ”
Yangcai rouge purple rolling road flower royal inscription "Sanqing Tea" poetry tea cup Qing Qianlong (hand-drawn). Courtesy of respondents
Among them, hot pots, warm pots and other utensils need to be registered. "Some utensils will have a note or piece of paper or a card tied to it, so you will see a lot of various utensils."
"Sometimes I can't finish writing the labels one morning, and when I look at the cabinets on the first floor that are layered with a lot of things, I am particularly curious, what did the emperor eat at that time?" How come there are so many cutlery? ”
Silver gilded shou character hot pot Qing Guangxu (hand-drawn). Courtesy of respondents
"Curiosity" became the starting point of Yuan Hongqi's research.
From that time on, she watched and studied.
"I know from the archives what these utensils were for, including what the medicinal utensils were, and they were written very clearly. After finding the answer in this way, I became more and more interested. So I continued to look for answers while studying, and then I also checked the literature, and slowly became more and more interested in how the emperor ate, and liked to study and learn these contents. ”
Filigree enamel passion lotus pattern refrigerator Qing Qianlong (hand-drawn). Courtesy of respondents
Among the archives that Yuan Hongqi had contacted, the most collected ones were from the Qianlong period.
"Because the dietary life and dietary system during the Qianlong Emperor period were relatively sound. For example, the archives of the southern tour during the Qianlong Emperor period at that time, as well as the meal archives in the palace, and even the archives of fruits and sauces and small dishes were written very clearly, so I think that a system has been formed during the Qianlong Emperor period, and many archives in the future are the same as the Qianlong Emperor's model. ”
Restored food map: Tanabata Qiaoguo. Courtesy of respondents
Interestingly, Yuan Hongqi also found some historical details that deviated from the public perception in the process of research. For example, "Although the banquet in the palace is very exquisite, there is no 'full table of Manchu'. ”
"I have seen in the literature that there are full seats and Han seats, but there are no full Han seats."
Restored food picture: Winter melon. Courtesy of respondents
In fact, in many historical records, the full seat and the Han seat are listed separately.
In the twenty-third year of the Kangxi Dynasty (1684 AD), the emperor made an important decision: "After the New Year's Day feast, the full table should be changed to a Han seat."
Yuan Hongqi believes that this passage shows the change in eating habits of manchus after entering the customs.
"The Qing royal family has been in the customs for a long time, because the northeast region is relatively cold, so it will eat some high-calorie foods." However, the environment in Kannai has changed, and it is easy to get some diseases by eating those high-calorie foods, such as sores and boils on fire, which are related to dietary life. Therefore, with the change of region, the diet in the Qing Dynasty court also changed. ”
Restored food map: Twist twister. Courtesy of respondents
People today probably have this curiosity: What was the taste of royal cuisine in the past?
Unfortunately, we can only get a glimpse of the delicious taste of that year from the historical data.
"Some of the qing dynasty court cuisine practices, we can only try to figure it out literally." Yuan Hongqi said that the record in the menu is actually particularly simple.
"Like a dish, often the first word is the way of cooking, and then there is how to match the main ingredients of the dish. There is also the presentation of finished dishes, which are silk, strips, and blocks; stewing, stir-frying, and roasting, which are written very clearly, so today we can slowly explore according to the records of the meal list. The taste may certainly be different from what we eat today. ”
"Forbidden City Banquet" book cover.
After 45 years of research, what makes Yuan Hongqi particularly happy is that she feels that everyone now likes to read history more and more, and is more and more rational, hoping to see the most fundamental things in the original records.
"I think that's a good sign. Returning to history itself, this attitude of learning has certain value for studying history and guiding our lives today. This has a lot of sense. She said. (End)
Source: China News Network