Modern China can be said to have been bullied by Western powers and has also encountered various invasions by Western powers. However, it is not all bad to say that the invasion of Western powers is not all bad, in fact, although the Western powers have caused a great blow to China, they have also brought a lot of new cultures and products to China, such as the Western diet is one of them.
One. "Foreign food" before the late Qing Dynasty
When the food culture of the Western powers was first imported into China, in fact, the Chinese people were still very resistant, before the Qing Dynasty, the Western food that the Chinese people came into contact with was actually mainly a variety of foods imported from the West.
For example, very famous grapes, shoubei, pomegranates, courgettes, walnuts, etc., these Western fruits are widely loved by our people, and Marco Polo and others have also brought a lot of fruits and ingredients.
Among them, the more important thing in the West is the transmission of high-yield crops such as corn and sweet potatoes, which directly changes the diet of our people.
Now many people say that the Kangqian prosperous world is the "sweet potato prosperity" is actually not empty.
As a high-yielding crop introduced to China from the West, sweet potato originated in South America, but after it was introduced to China, it was widely planted to feed the population of many poor soil areas. It should be said that Western food can be said to be completely "localized" in China.
In the early Kangxi Dynasty, the missionary German Tang John (1592-1666) made "Western cakes" in his apartment in Beijing to entertain Chinese officials.
This cake is made of honey, eggs and wheat flour, and then made of special iron plates.
This is similar to today's egg filling cake, which is a delicacy that many Chinese flock to.
The so-called western cake method is: "Use egg white and flying noodles as thick water and put it in a bowl." Cut a copper clip, make a cake shape on the head, such as a butterfly, up and down, less than one point at the copper seam. Bake a copper clip over a blazing fire, thicken the water, paste and pinch and touch, and instantly turn it into a cake. White as snow, bright as cotton paper, slightly add rock sugar, pine nut crumbs. "It makes people feel drooling when they hear it, and it can be seen that the Chinese-style foreign cuisine that was transformed by foreigners at that time was very popular among the Chinese." However, it is said that Chinese first officially contacted Western food, it was a long time later.
II. The "Barbarian Diet" in Qianlong's Eyes
If Chinese first formal contact with Western food, it was during the visit of the Magalni delegation to China. The so-called magalni mission visit to China was a foreign visit to China that occurred during the Qianlong Emperor of the Qing Dynasty, and Magalni represented the Queen of England at that time, visiting China hoping to trade, but the Qianlong Emperor actually did not agree.
Why didn't you agree? Because Qianlong believed that the Heavenly Dynasty was omnipotent, there was no need to do business with foreign barbarians.
To say that Magalni is also a tendon, because he is an Englishman who cannot hear the voiceover in the Qianlong Emperor's words at all - you are too backward, our heavenly dynasty is incomparably advanced, and we are not worthy to do business with us. So Magalni specially displayed a large number of advanced Equipment and products from the West, including Western food.
The Western food displayed by Magalney includes: wine, gin, shochu, beer, sugar water wine, coconut wine, shalebee wine and other liquors, as well as sausage steak bread and other general foods, at that time, Qing officials and Magalni got along very well, and even learned a handshake ceremony from him, which shows that the communication between humans is still harmonious.
However, Magalni did not achieve his goal, and Qianlong was not interested in these things, so in the end he failed to complete the trade plan.
Although Magalni came to China during the Qianlong period, the real spread of Western food in China should start in Guangzhou. Although the Macartney mission visited China, officials from the Zhili region (mainly today's capital region) were exposed to Western food. However, the Qianlong Emperor always put it
The Envoys were called "Tribute Envoys", "Fan Envoys" and even "YiRen", which means to put it bluntly, they were considered barbarians; Qianlong called the "gifts" brought by Ma Jiaerni "tributes".
He even asked Magalni to kneel, regardless of whether the British envoys were reluctant or unhappy, after all, in Qianlong's eyes, the whole world could not be the royal land, and the coast of the land could not be the king's subjects, and britain was also a vassal state of the Qing Dynasty, so why don't you kneel?
Therefore, the Qianlong Emperor, who regarded himself as a big country, could not treat the British with an equal and friendly attitude between countries today, and he regarded the inequality between Yixia as the premise of Sino-foreign exchanges. When Qianlong measured the British by this set of criteria, they of course became "ignorant" and "self-indulgent" (Qianlong thought they did not understand etiquette).
Out of this mentality and distrust of foreigners, the Qing Dynasty in the twenty-second year of Qianlong (1757) ordered the locking of the country, only one place in Guangzhou was retained as a foreign trade port, and foreigners were not allowed to do business in other parts of China without the permission of the Qing court.
As the only channel between China and the West before the Opium War, Guangzhou naturally gathered foreign merchants. With the rapid development of import and export trade between China and the West, the number of merchants and seafarers from Western countries coming to China is increasing, and they are naturally not accustomed to Chinese food customs when they first arrived in China, in order to allow them to enjoy Western food in China, it is logical that Western restaurants first appeared in Guangzhou.
In the late Qing Dynasty, The Western restaurants in Guangzhou were mainly concentrated in the East Causeway Dashatou and Shaji Valley Ports, where thousands of merchants gathered.
Those Guangzhou officials and businessmen who deal with and do business with foreigners every day are naturally not unfamiliar with Western food, and even often negotiate with foreigners in Western restaurants.
At that time, famous Western restaurants included Anyuan, East Asia Hotel, Taipingguan, Chilean Min, Washington, Buckhorn Hotel, Dedication and Dadong Hotel. It can be said that it has greatly changed the face of Guangzhou, and even many foreigners have entered Western restaurants and started eating Western food first when they arrive in Guangzhou, it is said that the local seafood dinner is more authentic than the local European ones, which can be said to be blue out of blue.
Third, the frenzy of Western food and the fusion of Chinese food
After the Opium War, the spread of Western food in China spread rapidly, mainly because a special group appeared in China at that time, the comprador class. The so-called comprador class was a person who specialized in doing business with foreigners, and they were the first to be Westernized at that time. In particular, the merchant group headed by the comprador merchants who took the lead in opening up the port of trade in Shanghai began to be westernized at the earliest.
As early as the middle of the 19th century, some of these comprador merchants had begun to live in bungalows, eat Western food, give foreign names, and even began to "westernize" their children's education and religious beliefs.
For compradors, Western food as a new way of eating, even if you are not used to it at the beginning, but after all, you have to deal with foreigners every day, and you have to get used to it if you don't like it.
In order to have close contact with foreign businessmen, the frequency of eating Western food has also increased. However, it is said that it is usually eaten, initially as a kind of taste or fashion, and later I often bring my wife and family to western restaurants.
However, in addition to these rich compradors, ordinary people actually can't eat Western food, because the consumer price of Western food was very high at that time. According to statistics, at that time, the minimum income of female workers at that time was only one yuan and five yuan per month, and the patrol of the concession was only ten yuan and eight yuan in January, qianzhuang
Those employees earned six yuan a month (equivalent to today's bank employees).
And the average cost of each customer in these Western restaurants is as high as three to four yuan. Therefore, eating Western food is quite luxurious, and if you are not careful, your monthly salary will be gone, so basically only high-society people can eat Western food, which is regarded as a manifestation of magnanimity and pomp.
Most of the early Western food was invited to be a guest at the consulate or foreign firm in Shanghai, and ate Western food, which at that time paid attention to pomp and etiquette, so it was called "big dish". The Western restaurants frequented by the compradors were Laixi Hotel, Biluo Hotel, Sullivan, Didisi, Golden Gate Paramount Hall, etc."
At that time, the most popular thing was to invite others to eat Western food.
However, later with the gradual increase of Western food, the general citizens everywhere also began to eat Western food, the so-called kind of learning, since the compradors eat Western food as a high society, then it is not surprising that ordinary people also want to experience a feeling of high society.
For the public, following the trend is the main form of their influence by social customs. Driven by the psychology of reverence, the Western way of life in the city gradually became fashionable.
For example, in Shanghai, "the Westerners have the most places here, and the Chinese people do more of what they do." Its manufacturing dexterity can not be learned, but to learn its shallowness, according to its language, as for the carriage, boarding the boat, the Chinese also think that it is happy, even the cigar smoke in the mouth, the feast of the restaurant is often full, the left hand fork and the right hand holding the knife, to consult the chewers, all Chinese. ”
It can be said that at that time, more and more people ate Western food, and with the expansion of Western food, Chinese food even encountered a crisis.
At that time, the inexpensive Russian-style meal was only 1.2 yuan, and the quality and taste were very good, which overshadowed the nearby Chinese restaurant. Since then, Western food has begun to spread in Shanghai and gradually swept the country.
It can be seen that small profits and high sales are the last word.
As a result, Chinese restaurants around the world have begun to reform, and many restaurants have chosen to transform Chinese food in a way that combines Chinese and Western styles, so that they can learn from each other's strengths, and a recipe was very popular at that time:
Staple food: steamed buns;
Cuisine: grilled steak, grilled lamb chops, boiled fish, boiled meat, braised lamb, roasted birds;
Dishes: fried white radish, braised sweet potatoes, roasted shallots, finely chopped cabbage (a salad);
Soup: chicken soup;
Drink: Tea.
This set menu. It can be said that it has been transformed by Chinese vision of "eating in Western food".
It not only retains the "essence" of Western food, but also allows The Chinese people to taste new food at the same time, do not have to be too aggrieved their stomachs. It can be said that it is very reasonable, the complementary fusion of Chinese and Western dishes has become the signature of the Nanyang school, popular throughout the country, it can be said that Western food has greatly improved many concepts of Chinese food, making the table of the Chinese more abundant.
Fourth, the health system has done a great job
To avoid such a situation, the concession established vegetable farms and slaughterhouses in densely populated residential areas since the 1860s, and the first step in the management of vegetable farms began with meat inspections. Meat inspectors were dispatched to inspect the butcher shops in the concession on a daily basis, as well as some slaughterhouses in the vicinity of the concession.
At that time, the highest administrative body of the concession was called the Ministry of Works, which was equivalent to the governor of the concession, and they authorized the inspectors to detain livestock, fresh meat, fish, poultry, etc. with suspicious diseases, and if it was found that there was indeed a problem with the damage, they destroyed such harmful agricultural and sideline products.
It can be said that these systems have greatly helped China's food hygiene situation, and various localities have followed suit, and China's food hygiene situation has been greatly improved.
summary
The author believes that in fact, the influence of Western food on Chinese society continues to this day. In the continuous collision, intersection and integration of Chinese and Western food cultures, the pace of food civilization has never stopped. Not to mention that milk today has been accompanied by the slogan of "one pound of milk per day, strong Chinese" into thousands of households, basically becoming a regular customer at the table. It should be said that the spread of Western food is still more beneficial than harmful to our country, and Western food enriches the table of our people and there are many etiquette and hygiene concepts that are very advanced, but we cannot give up the Chinese food culture of the ancestors, and we must combine the development of Chinese and Western in order to keep pace with the times.
Foreigners also think that the ancestors' Chinese food is the best, we can't be arrogant.
bibliography
[1] Yuan Ming: "Suiyuan Food List"
[2] Yin Guangren and Zhang Rulin: "Macao Chronicles, Macao Fan Chapter"
[3] Guo Yixi: "Guo Yixi's Diary"