In the Qing Dynasty, the emperor would reward the ministers with pig elbows, but these elbows were used for sacrifice, so there was no salt and other condiments, and because it was used for sacrifice, generally did not dare to cook too cooked, otherwise it was not easy to store, when these sacrificial elbows were given to the ministers, they did not swallow, but collected or taken back to offer, because this is a symbol of honor, in the film and television drama, Qianlong punished officials to eat elbows, in fact, it is a misreading.
Because the Manchus believe in shamanism in the northeast, they attach great importance to the sacrifice activities of the clan, and food can bring people closer to their feelings, and the early Manchus often used food to entertain the gods. After the Manchus entered the customs, although they no longer practiced shamanism, these customs remained unchanged. Both Shunzhi and Kangxi were very afraid that the Manchus would gradually lose their fighting spirit in the gentle and rich townships, so they demanded that the Manchus live in isolation from the Han Chinese, and did not allow these Manchus to change their surnames, and they could not forget the customs, so each sacrifice was very important.
According to tradition, the food of these sacrifices will generally be rewarded to the important ministers around them to show their respect for these courtiers, which is definitely not the meaning of punishing the ministers in film and television dramas. Since it is a reward gift, it is impossible to eat it on the spot, which is not in line with etiquette, so it will be taken back, or given to important friends, etc.
As for the legend of throwing elbows, it is likely that the people feel that these imperial relatives and noble relatives are the taste of mountains and treasures every day, and the elbows that the people love to eat are not looked at. In fact, the emperor did not eat a lot, such as Cixi, who was the most particular about eating, and usually dined with four dishes and one soup, the so-called Manchu Han full table, and the entire Qing Dynasty did not eat several times.
Moreover, for the safety of the emperor in the court, it is required that seasonal vegetables cannot be eaten casually, and the quality is afraid that the quality is not stable enough, so those vegetables that are only available for one or two months a year are difficult for the emperor to eat. Moreover, the eunuchs in the imperial dining room were also worried that once the emperor wanted to eat vegetables that were not seasonal again, it would be difficult for them to do so, such as eating winter bamboo shoots in the summer and fava beans in the winter.
When Qianlong went down to Jiangnan, the salt merchants of Jianghuai cooked a large table of delicacies for Qianlong, but Qianlong did not react, and later these salt merchants bought the eunuchs to know the inside story, and it turned out that these eunuchs were afraid that Qianlong was accustomed to eating these dishes, so they put a large spoonful of sugar in each dish, so that Qianlong forgot the taste of Jiangnan.
Many of the film and television dramas about the Qing Dynasty are derived from rumors, but these rumors are also well-founded, such as the meat sacrificed by the ministers in the sacrifices. But these ministers would never casually discard the offerings of reward, because these symbolize glory, would you discard your own glory casually?