Since the establishment of the guard in Tianjin in the early Ming Dynasty,
Has always been a thoroughfare Dayi, people mixed five parties,
It is known as "the unparalleled land of the flower moon in the south of The Qi, the bustling first city in the north of Ji".
Speaking of the prosperity of Tianjin Wei once
It is inseparable from a place name that is both familiar and unfamiliar
Hou Jia hou
Hou Jiahou prosperous old shadow Source: Tianjin Municipal Archives
First there was the Hou family and then there was Tianjin Wei
Old Tianjin people know that Hou Jiahou was once the most prosperous place in Tianjin Wei. According to the location, it is the Big Hutong Trade City, and hou jiahou is in this range, but it should be smaller.
Map of the Republic of China Period The blue circle is the source of the "Hou Jiahou" marked by Webster Pinyin: Tianjin people
After the Hou family in the Qing Dynasty lived a man named Li Huaifang, who was raised in the seventeenth year of Qianlong (1752), and when he was more than eighty years old, he posted a couplet on the door frame of his home: "Tianjin Wei eighty-three-year-old iron man, the Hou family is more than 500 years old." ”
It can be seen that the Li family has lived for more than five hundred years after the Hou family, decades earlier than "the Yan King swept the north, and Tianjin built a wei and built a city".
During the Qianlong period, there was a folk song: "After the Hou family, there are large households, the mouth of the Three Forks River cannot be held together, and the soldiers are out, and the merchants are out, and the number can be fifty-five." "It means that at this time, the Hou family was densely populated, and there were more than fifty large households alone.
Hou Jiahou in the "Luhe Supervisory Map" Source: Network
There are two theories about the origin of the place name "Houjiahou".
The first theory is that Hou Jiahou got his name from the "Houjia Tea House" opened by the Hou family name in this place, and the market formed in the open space behind the tea house was called Houjiahou Small City.
Another theory is that in the early years, there were families surnamed Hou who lived by the canal, made a living by running sea boats, and went out to sea to sell seafood in front of their own doors. Because his seafood is fresh, residents from near and far come to buy it.
The Hou family made a fortune and built a row of large tile houses by the canal. Therefore, many people followed the Hou family's example, followed his ship out to sea, and then came back to sell and settle down. Over time, people called this residential area Houjiahou.
Source: Cao Xianren Sohu Weibo
Paper drunken gold fans hou family after
The "Old Story of Gushui" once described in detail the prosperous scene of Hou Jiahou: "The merchants in the Houjiahou area are gathered, the Songguan buildings and platforms are facing each other, the Pipa Gate Lane, and the clusters are like sǒu). The slanting sun is faint, the lights are bright, the braided hat shadow, the paper drunk gold fan. It was opened earlier than the other parts of Jinmen, and the prosperity scene is not owned today. ”
Houjiahou was densely populated and popular, reaching its peak during the Qianlong period, and the reason had a lot to do with its geographical location: east of Beidaguan, south of the South Canal, north of Jiayi Street and Guodian Street, and the east and west ends were Jinhua Bridge and Jinzhong Bridge. It is almost surrounded by four commercial districts: Canal Wharf, Dahutong, Beidaguan, and Yiyi Street.
Image source: Screenshot of "This is Tianjin Wei"
Moreover, before entering the mouth of the Sancha River, merchants and civilian boats from the south to the north must stop and rest after Houjia, so that there is a special demand for the commercial and catering services in this area, and gradually form an entertainment area for eating, drinking and having fun.
Therefore, after the Hou family, taverns, theaters, tea gardens, storytellers, singers, from morning to evening silk bamboo sandalwood, tourists are endless, lively. The famous "Eighty Percent" and "Four Xuan" of Jinmen are gathered here.
Image source: Network
During the Republic of China, Cao Yu wrote "Sunrise" and also experienced life after going to Hou's house. Some people think that Cao Yu's "Sunrise" depicts the drunken gold fans and sound dogs and horses of Greater Shanghai, but in fact, the story of "Sunrise" takes place in Tianjin during the Republic of China.
Cao Yu himself once said that the story of the sunrise happened at the Huizhong Hotel opposite the Tianjin Persuasion Field, and Chen Bailu had the shadow of the right family of the beautiful queen of the Republic of China, whom he once liked. The bottom-level wind and dust woman Cuixi was the real experience he had when he was interviewed in the inferior wind and moon places in Houjiahou and other places.
"Eight Dacheng" with Tianjin cuisine
At that time, the rice village after the Hou family was the hottest, and it can be said that it is the originator of Jin cuisine. The symbol of the formation of Tsu cuisine is the Juqingcheng Restaurant opened to celebrate the kangxi ascension to the throne (1662).
The restaurant is located in Houjia Houjiang Fork Hutong, occupying a set of courtyards, the courtyard is in the middle of the stage, the box room is a gorgeous and elegant private room, the backyard has a garden, and the car can be parked in front of the door. The living room is equivalent to the front desk of the restaurant, full of mahogany furniture, and the walls are hung with literati paintings.
Juqingcheng does not accept scattered seats, only accepts table banquet reservations, the standard is divided into Manchu full seat, bird's nest shark fin seat, duck wing seat, sea cucumber chicken seat several grades. The utensils for serving vegetables are also complete sets of porcelain painted with auspicious patterns such as "Long Life Boundless", "Xishou Fulu", "Descendants and Grandchildren", "Four Seasons and Evergreen", and tableware made of ivory and silver.
This model set a precedent for high-end catering in Tianjin and laid a milestone in the formation of tianjin's traditional cuisine. In the following decades, in the houjiahou area, Jiangcha Hutong opened Fujucheng, Jushengcheng, and Juyuancheng; Guijia Hutong opened Yihecheng and Yishengcheng; Houjiahou Middle Street opened Juhecheng and Julecheng, and for a time, Tianjin's "Eight Great Chengs" were crowned Beijing and Tianjin.
According to legend, when the Qianlong Emperor came to Tianjin, three meals a day were all arranged by Juqingcheng, each meal was unique, and no dish was repeated for several days. During this time, the chef served a "roasted fish strip", which was eaten with great joy in Qianlong's dragon heart, and the "official roasted fish" was given by the Jinkou Emperor, which is still a famous dish in Tianjin.
Official Grilled Fish Source: Green Field Mint
Later, when Juqingcheng moved to Nanshi, although it did not have the heyday of the middle of the Qing Dynasty, there were still large ovens, and the Jinmen roast duck and roasted puff pastry fangs produced at that time were still enjoyed by Tianjin Wei diners.
The late Period of the Eight Great Chengs is represented by "Juhe Cheng".
Juhecheng Restaurant specializes in oil frying, stir-frying, dry frying, soft slip, spoon grill, boiling, steaming, and braised pork. Using Tianjin's specialties of the river and sea and large and small birds, we will cook famous dishes with unique Jinmen characteristics, such as "Jumping Carp", "Soft Yellow Fish Fan", "Stir-fried Shrimp", "Fried And Cooked Prawns", "Sour Sand Purple Crab", "Koryo Silver Fish", "Money Finches Breast", "Chestnut Wild Duck" and so on.
Carp Image Source: Network
Sour sand purple crab Source: Network
Koryo Silverfish Source: Network
In addition, the hair making and cooking techniques of dried seafood such as bird's nest, shark fin, abalone, dried scallops, and sea cucumbers are also extremely exquisite, such as "Yipin GuanYan", "Grilled Tongtian Shark Fin", "Toad Abalone", "Osmanthus Dried Scallops", "Grilled Large Black Ginseng" and so on.
It is worth mentioning that the chef of the small stove of the restaurant, Wang Enrong, is the famous "shark fin king" in Tianjin, in addition to the braised, yellow stewed, grilled wings, the best is the "Tongtian shark fin".
This dish is made with the method of red steak with high-quality shark fins, more than two pounds of shark fins are neatly arranged on the 1.2-foot long dish, the dishes are exquisite and spectacular, the color and fragrance are excellent, worthy of the word "Tongtian", which was a must-order dish for every banquet of The rich merchants and dignitaries of Tianjin at that time.
Shark fin soup source: Network
At that time, the famous gentry in Tianjin invited guests to dinner, and the birthday banquet was not a gathering and a success. From the imperial relatives of the Qing Dynasty royal family to the successive governors of zhili, the enthusiasm for Jin cuisine has reached the extreme.
In particular, during Li Hongzhang's tenure as governor of Tianjin, all foreigners were invited to chinese banquets.
In addition to the big restaurant, Hou Jiahou also produced snacks, such as Tianjin Wei's long-established "Skin Sugar Zhang", Zhensu Lou's vegetarian buns, Bai Ji mutton dumplings, Lu Ji hot noodle fried cakes, Mu Duzi shabu lamb, Ming Shunchang sauce meat, etc., even the dog we said the other day ignored the buns, which was originally from the Hou family.
Bai Ji Dumpling House Source: Network
The Qing Dynasty Tianjin poet Zhou Chuliang's "Bamboo Branches of Jinmen" wrote: "Zhao Hongyuan in the street of estimation, a meal usually costs ten thousand dollars ... Mountains and seas are wrong with fragrant pickles, and restaurants usually twice a day. "All of them explain the lively luxury of Hou's family at that time."
Changes after the Hou family
The decline of Hou Jiahou began in 1900, when the Eight-Power Alliance invaded Tianjin, smashed and burned after houjia, and coupled with the Beijing mutiny in 1912, Houjiahou and Dahutong were looted again, and the commercial prosperity of Houjiahou gradually faded.
Since then, houjiahou's restaurants and opera gardens have basically moved to Nanshi, and Tianjin's commercial center has shifted.
After the new China, the merchants in the Houjiahou area were mainly concentrated in Yiyi Street, and Houjiahou in the traditional sense became a small commodity wholesale market.
Dahutong Wholesale Market Image Source: Network
In particular, the wholesale morning market of small department stores in Houjiahouqian Street is definitely a real morning market, mainly based on Yiyi Street and Houjiahouqian Street, and spreads to Guijia Hutong and other places. In the early morning, the market opens before dawn, and when it is dawn, it will close, and I want to go to the morning market, so I have to get up early.
At that time, Hou Jiahou mainly operated children's toys and small department stores, and there were also dried fruit fresh goods. However, the morning market does not deal in textiles such as clothing, shoes, hats and cloth, because that is the main business of the street.
now
The famous Hou family queen has long since ceased to be the same old man.
Not even the place names are left;
The legendary Guijia Hutong,
Also renamed Guijia Avenue;
Old Yi Yi Street,
Overgrown with weeds and desolate.
Dismantled and dismantled, changed and changed,
And this place after the Hou family,
In addition to the legend of only a few words,
Nothing was left.
(Article reference: Tianjin people, Tianjin past, tonight newspaper, old man Weng who tells stories, etc.)
(Some of the pictures come from the Internet, invaded and deleted)