The "lychee meat" in "Fujian cuisine" is a traditional charred stir-fry with a long history, and its taste is sweet and sour. "Lychee meat" was invented by a master named Wang Baoshan from Fuzhou at the end of the Qing Dynasty, who specialized in sweet and sour dishes and was famous in the Xiamen area of Fuzhou. Later, on the recommendation of Xu Yingqi, the governor of Fujian, he was summoned to the palace in 1896.
In the imperial dining room of the court, sweet and sour dishes were specially made for the empresses. It is said that Empress Dowager Cixi was greatly appreciated after tasting the dishes he made, so Wang Baoshan was awarded the title of "King of Catching Stir-fry" by Cixi, and immediately wrote the three words "Catch and Stir-Fry King" as a reward. These are recorded in the "court meal bottom file" preserved in the Qing Dynasty's Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Later, after the abdication of the court in the early years of the Republic of China, Wang Baoshan and others were dismissed back to their hometown, and still made a living as a chef in Fuzhou, and brought some of the court's cooking techniques back to their hometown, and soon became famous in the local area. After liberation, he was temporarily transferred to Beijing by the relevant leaders of Beijing Municipality to teach his skills, and died before the Cultural Revolution.
At that time, the sweet and sour flavor dishes in the court were all from Wang Baoshan's hand, and this skill has been passed down to this day. At present, the four major grasps of sweet and sour flavor in the palace flavor, such as "catching fried tenderloin, catching fried waist flowers, catching fried prawns, and catching fried fish fillets", are all created by Wang Baoshan after improvement.