Text/Li Shu
Source/Reader Magazine, Issue 7, 2018
On August 25, 1923, the "Vernacular Newspaper" published a news article entitled "Qing Room and AddEd Vegetable Kitchen":
"Emperor Xuantong of the Qing Dynasty loves to eat a big meal, and now a pancai kitchen is set up outside the Yangxin Gate, and four people from a certain fan restaurant have entered it, and it has been opened on the twenty-third day." (Senkaku, meaning Western food)
The emperor likes to eat Western food?
This is, of course, a hot topic of great interest to the people of the time.
In December 1922, Puyi got married, and 10 months ago, on the fourteenth day of the first lunar month, Puyi's 16th birthday banquet, a sitcom of "Western food" defeating "Chinese food" had been staged.
According to the examination of Yuan Hongqi, an expert in the life history of the Emperor of the Forbidden City, on this day, the three old concubines in the palace- Jingyi Emperor Guifei, Ronghui Emperor Guifei (the above two are the concubines of the Tongzhi Emperor) and Duankang Emperor Guifei (Guangxu Emperor Jinfei) gave him a table of the most fashionable birthday banquet at that time:
"Two products of sea bowl dishes: rock sugar lotus seeds, one pin of duck; four big bowl dishes: steamed donkey meat, six xi balls, roasted vegetarian miscellaneous, three silks of clear soup; four products of the middle bowl: red braised bamboo shoot chicken, Shouyi fish breast, spiced lamb, braised assorted; four products of huai bowl dishes: steamed duck strips, lees fish fillets, braised shrimp, fried crab meat; dish dish eight products: tenderloin silk stir-fried russet, dried fruit lotus apricot meat, inlaid yam, clear sauce meat, barrel chicken, brine assort, blowing belly, crispy chicken; slice plate two products: hanging stove pig, hanging stove duck; dumpling four products: Shouyi white sugar oil cake, Shouyi Alfalfa cake, Shouyi Li Peach, Shou Yi Bai Shou Peach; Soup 1 Pin: Eight Negative Wood Soup; Shou Noodles A Large Bowl, a Bowl of Noodles, a Bowl of Fried Sauce, a Plate of Noodles. ”
However, Puyi did not appreciate it, and casually rewarded people with this meal.
It turned out that he had already prepared a table of Western food for him: ham, braised lamb slices, fried pork chops, cream cake, butter cheese, French liquor, beer, soda... Readily available.
Ten months later, on the third day after the wedding ceremony, Puyi ordered "hearty cold food, pastries and French champagne" to entertain envoys from various countries, produced by the Beijing Hotel.
This is the earliest French restaurant in Beijing, which originated when the Eight-Power Alliance entered Beijing, and the two French people had a flash of inspiration.
They opened a tavern in Dongjiaomin Lane, and at first there was only a small façade, making small dishes such as pork chops and bacon omelettes, and selling only red and white wine for a dime or two.
Who knows, in just 20 years, it has developed into a famous hotel in Beijing.
The one who can eat with Puyi is Wanrong.
Wen Xiu, who entered the palace a day earlier than WanRong, did not like Western things so much, including eating Western food.
After the big wedding, Puyi often ate with Wanrong and Wenxiu, and the emperor often made such a will: "Two portions of breakfast and three pieces of Chinese food at dinner." ”
Tomatoes are Western food, why is it two Western food in the morning and three Chinese food for dinner.
It turned out that Shufei Wenxiu was not accustomed to Western food, so Puyi ate Western food with Wanrong in breakfast, and at dinner, the three of them ate Chinese food together.
Puyi and Wanrong seem to like to eat Western food very much, but Wenxiu does not like it, and gradually, Wenxiu returns to his palace to eat alone, while Puyi and Wanrong simply eat Western food every day.
Puyi is probably not satisfied with this kind of "refusal to settle" of Wenxiu, so there are foreign chefs who can make Western food in the palace, and Puyi even asks the people in the Wenxiu Palace to study first:
"First teach the people of the Shufei Palace and the former eunuchs of the Imperial Tea (Dining Room) to learn to set dishes on the table."
Summer 1931, Tianjin.
Wen Xiu ran away from Puyi's residence and came to a law firm, and the last princess sent a lawyer's letter through her lawyer:
"In the nine years of the emperor, he was not fortunate; he was alone and alone, and his sorrows flowed underneath; he was abused and unbearable. I hereby ask for another residence. Pu should go once a month for a number of days to practice cohabitation. Otherwise, we can only meet in court. ”
This was probably the only time in Chinese history that a concubine divorced, and it was called the "Shufei Revolution" at the time.
This was a great shame for Puyi, who had already been expelled from the Forbidden City.
I don't know if he remembered that day at this time, he ordered the Shufei who did not like to eat Western food to learn to set up the table, and the mood of Wenxiu at that time was about the same as that of him at this time.
Author: Li Shu, Source: Reader Magazine, No. 7, 2018, original titled "The Western Food Revolution of the Last Emperor".