For Chinese, who attach great importance to family affection, the Spring Festival, which symbolizes reunion, is undoubtedly the most important festival of the year. Of course, the celestial nobles of the Great Qing Dynasty were no exception: in order to maintain the supreme authority of the Son of Heaven, the emperor of the Great Qing Dynasty could not eat with his family on weekdays, and only Chinese New Year's Eve on this day could he dine with the concubines and concubines to show the harmony of the royal family. As a core component of the feudal state apparatus, the emperor Chinese New Year's Eve family banquet was one of the few times of the year when he could feel the family atmosphere, so the emperors attached great importance to this family banquet. The Kangqian period was the heyday of the Qing Dynasty, as the lord of the prosperous world, how did the Qianlong Emperor live his Chinese New Year's Eve? What was the scene like at the Royal Night Feast on this day? Is Tianzi really all that tianzi eats is mountain treasures and seafood? Based on the records of Emperor Gaozong of the Qing Dynasty, the current rules in the palace, the "Meal File" and other materials, we restored the Chinese New Year's Eve family banquet and related activities of the Qianlong Emperor.
(Qingqianlong Jin Ou Yonggu Cup)
1. What did you eat at the family dinner? Hearty, but not extravagant
Here we should first explain that unlike the modern habit of three meals a day, the Qing Dynasty court only ate two meals a day, breakfast was generally at six or seven o'clock in the morning, and dinner was generally around two o'clock in the afternoon. Chinese New Year's Eve the family feast on this day actually includes two parts: breakfast and dinner. Of course, according to the habits of Chinese, the dinner party is the highlight of the family banquet.
However, this is not to say that breakfast can be fooled. Qianlong's Chinese New Year's Eve breakfast content is also extremely rich, taking the breakfast of the sixty-fourth year of Qianlong (1799) as an example, according to the "Meal File" of the Qing Palace, the breakfast on this day is:
Bird's Nest Red and White Duck Eight Immortals Hot Pot One Product, Fat Chicken Meat Removal Hot Pot One Product, Bird's Nest Red and White Duck Su Ling One Product, Fat Chicken Meat Removal One Product, Lamb Slices One Product, Soup Duck One Product, Chopped Pheasant One Product, Deer Tail Sauce One Product, And Then Sent to Fried Meat One Product, Scrambled Egg One Product, Steamed Three Fresh One Product, Steamed Kanto Duck Deer Tail Saving Plate One Product, Steamed Duck One Product, Lamb Black Fork One Product, Roasted Venison One Product, Nian Cake One Product, Enamel Sunflower Box Side Dish One Product, Enamel Sauce Side Dish Four Products, Accompanied by Roasted Soup Boiled Dumpling One Product, Old Rice Dry Meal One Product, Bird's Nest Three Fresh Soup One Product, Duck porridge into some.
At two o'clock in the afternoon, the dinner officially began. The variety of dishes at the dinner is more abundant than that of the breakfast. At the banquet, according to different levels, the food content of the emperor, the empress, and the concubines was not the same: the emperor's imperial banquet placed 40 cold meals, hot meals, and group meals, and 20 products each of the wine and tea meals, plus 108 products such as gluttony, side dishes, soup, porridge, and candied food; the empress's first-class banquet table was reduced to sixty-four products; the second-class banquet table of the noble concubine and concubine was two people per table, and the third-class banquet table of the concubine and the nobleman was three people per table, and the meal was thirty-two products.
(Qing Lang Shining painted "Portrait of the Qianlong Emperor's Imperial Dress")
From the menu point of view, although Qianlong's family banquet is very rich in content, it is actually not luxurious, basically based on chicken and duck and venison in the northeast. Due to the influence of the manchu ancestral nomadic traditions, Qianlong was not keen on "seafood" such as seafood, so Qianlong's family banquets were more "mountain treasures" and less "seafood".
2. Transfer: Dining etiquette that reflects the distinction between kings and subjects
Although it is a family, as a royal, you can't help but show the distinction between the superior and inferior ranks of the monarch at all times. In addition to the difference in the content of different levels of food mentioned above, the number of seats at home banquets and the tableware used by different people also reflect the difference in rank.
Family banquets should also be in order
At royal banquets, seats are arranged in descending order, from south to north, and from east to west according to age. The emperor sits north facing south, and then from north to south sits the prince, prince, and so on. There are also differences in the tableware of the banquet, such as the tableware used by the emperor is the golden dragon plate, the golden dragon bowl, the golden spoon, and the golden spoon; the empress uses the yellow dark cloud dragon plate bowl, the golden spoon, and the golden spoon; the noble concubines have no gold tableware, and use the "bit bowl" representing the status level: such as the noble concubine, the concubine uses the yellow ground green dragon plate bowl, the concubine uses the blue ground yellow dragon plate bowl, and the noble person uses the sauce blue dragon plate bowl.
(Qingqianlong Yellow Ground Pastel Longevity Borderless Pattern Bowl)
The "transfer banquet" in the banquet ceremony also reflects the hierarchy of dignity and inferiority within the royal family. The so-called "transfer banquet", popularly speaking, is the order of dining, and the various dishes displayed on the table of the Golden Dragon Feast will first be sent to the long table in front of the emperor. After the emperor tasted it, he sent it to the table of different people in the order described above.
(Qianlong Dajibao case)
During the banquet, the emperor's ascension and departure must play Shao music. When the emperor enters tea, wine, and meals, all personnel must prostrate themselves, and when the emperor appreciates tea and wine, the rewarded person must prostrate his head and give thanks. After eating the banquet, the fruit tea was drunk, and in the middle of the music, the emperor got up and left the table, and the banquet ended. After that, the emperor also drove the East and West Buddha Halls of the Yangxin Hall and worshipped the Buddha. After the feast, a large feast was given to the Mongol prince and the Manchu ministers. In short, the entire banquet was conducted in strict accordance with the rules of etiquette. It is not so much a family feast as a ceremony.
(Xiao Yu, one of the instruments that played Zhonghe Shao music at the banquet)
Third, dumplings - Chinese New Year's Eve family feast can not bypass the delicacies
The royal meal mentioned earlier has a "dumpling", which is actually what we usually call "dumplings". Qing emperors saw eating dumplings as a tradition to honor their ancestors.
According to legend, in order to express his remorse for the innocent victims of the war, Nurhaci, the ancestor of the Qing Dynasty, asked Chinese New Year's Eve to eat vegetarian dumplings every year to pay tribute to the spirits of the dead, and it became a Qing dynasty tradition.
Qinggong vegetarian stuffed dumplings are mainly based on northeastern dried vegetables such as longevity vegetables, fungus, mushrooms, and enoki mushrooms. Like the folk, the dumplings Chinese New Year's Eve the Qing Palace should also be wrapped in copper coins to ask for a good color head, the emperor needs four plates of spices to eat dumplings, respectively, filled with sauce side dishes, southern side dishes, ginger juice and vinegar, dumplings are divided into two bowls, one bowl puts 6 vegetarian dumplings, the other puts 2 dumplings with copper coins, to ensure the emperor's good luck in the coming year.
Tableware for the emperor's meal
The time to cook dumplings is also exquisite, and the emperor must be just cooked when he takes his seat. So how does the imperial dining room master the time to cook dumplings? Originally, the Qing Palace stipulated that Chinese New Year's Eve on this day, the emperor only needed to pass a threshold to set off a firecracker. Therefore, the cooks in the imperial dining room grasp the time of cooking dumplings according to the time of the firecrackers. Qianlong and the members of the imperial family ate dumplings in the east hut of the Zhaoren Hall on the left side of the Qianqing Palace, and when the emperor ascended the steps of the Qianqing Palace, the imperial dining room began to cook dumplings. In this way, when the emperor sat down in the Shōjin Hall, the dumplings just came out of the pot.
Fourth, the night fruit box: the "dessert after the meal" of the old age
Like the people, the royal family also has the custom of Chinese New Year's Eve keeping the age. In order to express good wishes for the coming year, each palace should place a box of night fruit and give each other to show blessings, the so-called "night fruit" refers to sweets including sugar, honey, etc., mostly dairy products, candied dried fruits and so on.
According to the records, the night fruits in the fruit box include preserved apricots, candied golden jujubes, candied hydrangea plums, candied loquat fruits, candied cherries, pine nut red fruits, osmanthus beijing cakes, etc., posing "five blessings and longevity", "auspicious celebrations and more" and other patterns, very exquisite.
(Qingqianlong Red Flying Dragon Feast Box)
The fruit boxes where the night fruit is placed are also very exquisite, these fruit boxes are lacquerware, the shape is mainly square and round, and there are two or three layers according to the number of foods placed. The surface of the fruit box is decorated with various pearls, precious stones, and pictures of various flowers, birds and landscapes, and each fruit box is a beautiful work of art.
Wen Shi Jun:
As the king of a country, the Qianlong Emperor's Chinese New Year's Eve family banquet reflects a relatively strong content of ritual color that reflects the dignity and inferiority of the monarch, but in addition to these, we can still feel the warm side of the wish for a better life in the coming year and good wishes for the family. Today, many of the traditions Chinese New Year's Eve the Qing Palace have been integrated into folk customs, and what links the two is the emotion of Chinese attaching importance to family affection, kindness and simplicity, which flows in the cultural blood of every Chinese, whether it is the people or the son of heaven.
bibliography:
1. Li Wen: "The New Year of the Qianlong Emperor", Beijing Archives, No. 01, 1995.
2. Wang Sixuan, Yu Xiaowei, "How to Eat Dumplings Chinese New Year's Eve qing palace", Decision Exploration, 2016.02.
3. Yuan Hongqi: "Long Talk about the New Year of the Qing Dynasty Court", Forbidden City, 2017.01.
(Author: Haoran Wenshi Jianyan)
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