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"The people take food as the sky", food culture is an important part of traditional Chinese culture, eating - not only for the sake of food and survival, but also a concentrated expression of a way of life, between the soup and food, everywhere exudes the wisdom of life and the dignity of life.
The surging news learned that the "Exhibition of Ancient Chinese Food Culture" is being exhibited at the National Museum of China, and the exhibition is divided into five units: "Eating from The Eight Directions", "Tea Rhyme and Wine Aroma", "Beautiful Instruments", "The Change of Dingzhong", and "Ritual Diet", exhibiting more than 240 pieces (sets) of selected cultural relics, including carbonized rice in the Liangzhu culture period, bronze food utensils of the Shang Dynasty, and Tang Dynasty dim sum excavated from the Astana Tang Tomb in Turpan, Xinjiang in 1972, starting from different angles such as ingredients, utensils, techniques, and etiquette. It comprehensively presents the development, change and cultural connotation of ancient Chinese food culture, and profoundly explains the characteristics of Chinese food culture.
Exhibition Scene Photo: Chen Tuo
Exhibition Scene Photo: Yu Guanchen
"Did you eat it?"
As a Chinese, I think this greeting could not be more cordial. As the saying goes, "the people take food as the sky", China's long history of food has given birth to a broad and profound culture. Take the colloquial language related to "eating" for example, there are eating, suffering, eating, eating, eating, eating and walking... Wait a minute. Diet is not only the material condition on which human beings depend for survival, but also an important symbol of social development and progress. Food culture is an important part of traditional Chinese culture, from Ru Mao drinking blood to cooking cooked food, from large soup xuan wine to gourmet food, the table of the ancient Chinese people has witnessed tens of thousands of years of food revolution and cultural flux. Eating - not only for the sake of food and survival, but also a concentrated expression of a way of life, between the spices and meals, everywhere exudes the wisdom of life and the dignity of life.
Recently, the "Ancient Chinese Food Culture Exhibition" was exhibited to the public at the National Museum of China, the exhibition system explains the development and changes of ancient Chinese food and cultural connotations, guides the audience to savor the Chinese taste of "people take food as heaven", deeply perceives the blood and interest of the Chinese nation, and exhibits more than 240 pieces (sets) of cultural relics, starting from different angles such as ingredients, utensils, techniques, etiquette, etc., comprehensively presenting the historical changes of ancient Chinese food culture, and truly portraying the daily life of ancient working people full of fireworks. The exhibition, sponsored by the National Museum of China, is a cultural exhibition of the National Museum that promotes the excellent traditional Chinese culture and digs deep into the daily life of the people.
Exhibition hall scene Photo: Chen Tuo
Unit 1 Eating from the Eight Directions
China is the birthplace of millet and rice, the two main crops, and the first place to domesticate dogs, pigs, chickens and other livestock and poultry, and around 4,000 years ago, the mainland also introduced sheep, cattle, horses, wheat and so on from West Asia and other places. As a result, Chinese a variety of food and meat diet patterns, which have been formed as early as prehistoric times. Compared with the meat-eating food structure in the West, the omnivorous food structure of Chinese is more scientific and reasonable, which enables the human body to obtain rich and balanced nutrients from various foods, and also fully reflects the diverse and unified characteristics of Chinese food culture.
Carbonized rice Neolithic Liangzhu culture (about 3300 BC - 2200 BC) Liangzhu ancient city Mojiao Mountain West slope excavated Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology Collection
During the Liangzhu culture, rice farming has developed considerably. Rice, which is a staple food, has been found in many places in the ruins of Liangzhu Ancient City. For example, the accumulation of 10,000 catties of charred rice near the Mojiao Mountain High Terrace may have been caused by the dumping of a granary fire in the palace area, while the ruins of the Chizhong Temple south of the Mojiao Mountain High Platform may have been a granary containing a large amount of rice.
Jia Liang New Dynasty (8-23 AD) Height 26.1 cm, caliber 32.8 cm
Jia Liang is a grain measurement standard scale formulated in the New Mang Era, with the five quantities of yuè (龠), he, l, bucket, and hú (hú), hú, so it is called Jia Liang. Wang Mang established a new dynasty, togu reformed the system, reformed weights and measures is one of his political initiatives, and his order Liu Xin designed this amount according to the ancient system of two gongs for integration, ten combinations for ascension, ten liters for buckets, and ten buckets for Huo.
Stone grinding discs, grinding rods Neolithic PeiLigang culture (about 7000 BC - 5000 BC)
Food offerings Ming (1368-1644)
Unit 2 Tea Rhymes and Aromas
Mainland china has a long history of drinking and drinking tea, wine and tea as the two brilliant flowers in the Chinese food culture, in the long history of the long river of brilliance, so that the ancient people's food life more artistic color. Wine makes people intoxicated, and tea makes people sober, the so-called "wine like a hero, tea like a reclusive", new tea aged wine can bring different beauty to the drinker to enjoy, but also to meet people's different spiritual needs. The poems and lyrics about wine and tea written by the literati and inkers also together constitute the vast and magnificent Chinese wine culture and Chinese tea culture.
Single-eared black pottery cup Neolithic Longshan culture (about 2500 BC - 2000 BC) Excavated in 1975 in Jiaoxian County, Shandong 8.8 cm in height, 5.7 cm in caliber and 4.3 cm in diameter
The Chinese ancestors mastered the technology of winemaking a long time ago, and the production of wine utensils also came into being. A large number of wine utensils have been excavated from the Yongsan cultural site more than 4,000 years ago, which shows that there was already a considerable scale of winemaking at that time.
Bronze Jue Shang (c. 16 BC - 11th century BC) excavated in 1950 in The village of Wuguan in Anyang, Henan Province, is 20 cm high and 18.5 cm long
Bronze Jue first appeared in the Erlitou culture, prevailed in the Shang Dynasty, and was used until the middle of the Western Zhou Dynasty. It is generally considered to be a wine warmer. Mr. Sun Ji judged based on the fact that there were smoke (tái) at the bottom of the excavation and the structure of some knights, as well as the chàng wine of the gods in the inner offering: the knight was a ceremonial vessel used in the sacrifice of the xin and the guàn. Enjoy the aroma of the god "Xin". After heating, the steam aroma of the wine is strong and the ghosts are happy to enjoy it. In the sacrificial service, the wine is poured to the ground through the front end of the stream, and this irrigation ceremony is called "祼".
Bronze Axe (jiǎ) Shang (c. 16th–11th century BC)
Tao Er Cup Jin (265-420)
Gilded birds and beasts, flowers, and leaves, silver note, Tang (618-907)
Blue-glazed lattice Jin (265-420)
Unit 3: Beauty Tools
Eating utensils are an important part of ancient Chinese food culture. From the first eating utensils in the Neolithic Era to the pottery, metal and porcelain eating utensils invented in the past, all of them have witnessed the development of Chinese civilization. While paying attention to practicality, Chinese food utensils have always run through people's aesthetic concepts. The simple beauty of faience pottery, the elegant beauty of porcelain, the solemn beauty of bronze, the beautiful beauty of lacquerware, the brilliant beauty of gold and silverware, and the lustrous beauty of jade all bring users a beautiful enjoyment.
Neolithic Majiayao culture (about 3200 BC - 2000 BC) Height 11.5 cm, caliber 18.6 cm, foot diameter 11.2 cm Excavated in Gansu in 1956
There are 18 perforations along the edge of the bean mouth, and the inner wall is painted with dark brown zigzags, shell patterns and grid patterns from top to bottom. Since the Neolithic way of eating was that people sat on the ground and the utensils were placed on the ground, the paint inside the beans could be viewed by the eaters, which had the function of adding to the taste of eating.
Qianfu Three-Year Guangqi Palace Silver Colander Tang (618-907) 26.5 cm long and 7.6 cm spoon diameter Excavated in 1958 in Nanyuzhai, a northern suburb of Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province
The inscription engraved on the handle of the colander is: "Guangqi Palace Qianfu three years of the first month of the transformation of Sheng, one heavy two three three three characters." Guangqi Palace is a palace in Chang'an Garden, according to historical records, after the defeat of Huang Chao's soldiers, he once set Chang'an City on fire, but Guangqi Palace survived. "Qianfu" is the era name of Emperor Li of Tang, and "Three Years of Qianfu" is 876 AD. The colander is originally an ordinary eating utensil, but as a palace utensil, regardless of the type and ornamentation, it strives to be exquisite and gorgeous, which is proof of this.
Lacquered lacquered gourd-style tableware box Qing (1644-1911)
Blue-flowered flower and fruit eight-grid food plate Ming (1368-1644)
Blue and white tangle pattern rhombus mouth plate Ming (1368-1644)
Longquan kiln emerald glazed lotus bowl Ming (1368-1644)
Doucai Dragon and Phoenix Bowl Qing (1644-1911)
Unit 4 Change in Dingzhong
The use of fire made the ancient ancestors out of the dietary life of "Ru Mao drinking blood", and the transformation from raw food to cooked food is an important milestone in the history of human development, which can be said to be the starting point of human food culture. As the saying goes, "water and fire are incompatible", but the wise ancient Chinese ancestors achieved "water and fire together" in cooking: as long as there is a thin layer of separation between water and fire, they can coexist.
The first batch of cooking utensils invented, such as kettle (fǔ), ding, mane (lì), and zèng, determined that the cooking techniques of the Chinese nation for thousands of years were mainly steaming and boiling. The Han Dynasty was an important period in the history of the development of Chinese food culture, and its grain storage and processing, staple food production, dish cooking, eating habits and many other aspects laid the basic diet pattern for more than 2,000 years in the future. In the process of dissemination, the food culture of different ethnic groups continues to absorb and integrate with the food culture of the Central Plains, and gradually forms a unique Chinese food culture in the world.
"Qinghe Food Official" bronze dyeer Han (202 BC - 220 AD) Tong height 15.6 cm, diameter 16.7 cm
According to the "Spring and Autumn of the Lü Dynasty", two Qi warriors who met by chance were drinking and had no meat, so they met each other to cut each other's flesh "with dyeing" and eating until they died. "Dyeing" here refers to soy sauce (chǐ) and sauce condiments. The Han Dynasty people used to eat hot seasonings, so they needed to use dyeers to constantly heat up the seasonings. From the artifact inscriptions, it can be seen that this is a food utensil from the Qinghe State (located in the area of present-day Shandong and Hebei) during the Western Han Dynasty.
Bronze oven Han (206-220 BC) Length 39.5 cm, width 22 cm, height 15.2 cm
In the Han Dynasty, the eating habit of grilling meat and wine was popular. This is a utensil used by people to grill meat, when used, put charcoal in the stove, and place skewers or large pieces of meat on the stove.
Dim Sum Tang (618-907) In 1972, the tomb of Astana Tang in Turpan, Xinjiang, was excavated
During the Sui and Tang dynasties, the staple food structure of people's dietary life changed, and wheat in staple food sprung up and became the first staple food in the north. Pasta has spread to all levels of society, and the level of pasta processing and cooking has also been greatly improved. This period ushered in a new era of pasta. Developed transportation and open policies have led to the continuous influx of noodle food varieties and production methods outside the region, and "Hufeng noodles" such as Hu Cake, Bì (Luó) and so on are favored by people.
Three-legged tin hot pot Qing (1616-1911) pass height 14.3 cm, caliber 19.3 cm
This is a traditional Manchu hot pot, and the cylinder in the middle of the vessel is used to hold the charcoal fire and the surrounding water is put. After the charcoal is heated, the meat slices are eaten while boiling water. This kind of utensil and shabu-shabu food method is still popular in northern China. Chinese has a long history of eating hot pot, and archaeological data show that the appearance of hot pot can be traced back to the Western Zhou Dynasty.
Neolithic Liangzhu culture (c. 3300 BC – 2200 BC)
Bronze 甗(yǎn) Western Zhou (c. 11th century BC – 771 BC)
Bronze Ring of the First Ring of the Han Dynasty (206--220 BC)
"Qi Min Zhi Shu" by Jia Sixun of the Northern Wei Dynasty
Unit 5 Ritual Eating
"At the beginning of the Fu Ceremony, the first diet", as a symbol of ancient Chinese civilization, the "ritual" is first of all based on diet. The custom of worshipping ancestors and gods before eating has intensified since the Neolithic period and into the Shang and Zhou Dynasties: from the combination of the number of ritual utensils to the rituals expressed in use, from the types of dishes to the cooking taste, from the way of eating to the feast feast, all emphasize the order of rank. The texts of the pre-Qin period have detailed accounts of eating etiquette, and many of them have had a profound impact on later generations.
The "Father" bronze gwan (guǐ) shang (c. 16-11th century BC) is 16.8 cm tall, 25.6 cm in caliber and 16.7 cm in diameter
This gui is decorated with three sets of hammer patterns, and the abdominal wall is decorated with milk nail patterns on the oblique checkered and thunder patterned lining. The circle foot is decorated with three groups of dragon patterns, and the two are opposite. Similar to the large bowl of later generations, it contains cooked rice, millet, rice, and beams.
Western Zhou Dynasty (c. 11th century BC – 771 BC) Jia Gui: height 21.5, caliber 20 cm Yi Gui: height 21.5, caliber 20 cm
The inscriptions of the Gong Gong are basically the same as those of the Gong Ding, and it is recorded that the bronze ware of the Mu Group is the Zongmiao Yi ware made by Shu Bo for the Gong. At present, the found artifacts include ding, gui and 盨 (xǔ), in addition to the national museum of China collection of ding ding and 2 pieces of jing, there are also 2 pieces of copper gui, indicating that the group of artifacts belongs to at least the bronze ceremonial combination of 5 dings and 4 gui.
Bronze disc Zhou (c. 11th century BC – 256 BC)
Cicada-patterned bronze 匜 (yí) Western Zhou (c. 11th century BC – 771 BC)
According to the National Museum, this exhibition is close to the people, closely related to daily life, is an exhibition full of human fireworks. "The people take food as the sky", since ancient times Chinese have a special love and pursuit of food. The exhibition is also an exhibition practice that integrates popularity and scholarship after the exhibition "Ancient Chinese Costume Culture", the National Museum is rooted in the people's public life, and extends from "food, clothing, housing and transportation" to excavate. The exhibition has a number of interactive projects, and the exhibition is rich in form. Through the design of good-looking, playful, experiential and hands-on content and exhibition forms, the distance between the museum and the public is narrowed, and the audience is guided to feel the profundity of ancient Chinese food culture, and to perceive the chinese nation's taste of life through ancient and modern times.
Exhibition site
In addition, the exhibition also uses the internet new media to display some of the wonderful contents of the exhibition online through the "central kitchen" media matrix of the National Expo and the various channels of cooperative media and supporting units. The general audience can watch the exhibition online without leaving home, or they can interact and watch the live broadcast of the exhibition through Weibo WeChat, and jointly "taste the world" and appreciate the unique charm of food culture.
Exhibition posters
Exhibition of Ancient Chinese Food Culture
Duration: From 28 December 2021
Venue: National Museum North 11 Exhibition
(This article is a comprehensive compilation of relevant materials from the National Museum.) ）
Editor-in-Charge: Li Mei