The exhibition "Zhi Wei - Food Culture in Liaoning during the Wei and Jin Dynasties of the Two Han Dynasties" has been "opened" for many days, and today we will talk about it through the exhibition:
What did the Liaoning people of the two Han Dynasties, Wei and Jin Dynasty eat?
Whenever we stand in front of the refrigerator door, we look for what we can do today. There is a proverb that "it is difficult for a smart woman to cook without rice", which shows the importance of ingredients. We now divide the ingredients into staple and side dishes. Staple foods include rice, noodles, grains, beans and potatoes, while side foods are divided into vegetables, fruits, meat, eggs, dairy products and so on. So, what ingredients would the Liaoning people who lived in the Wei and Jin dynasties of the Two Han Dynasties have?
According to the "Zhou Li Zhi Fang", "Northeast Yue Youzhou, its town mountain is known as wu lu,...... Its fish salt ,...... Its livestock should be disturbed by four (Zheng Xuan's note: 'four disturbances', horses, cattle, sheep, pigs. ), three kinds of its grain (Zheng Xuan's note: 'Three kinds, 黍, 稷, rice. ’）”。 The literature reflects that the agricultural production in the Eastern Liaoning region during the Warring States period has begun to take shape, with a complete range of crops and livestock, and relatively rich products. A large number of agricultural tools, pottery stoves, pottery warehouses, etc. excavated from the sites and tombs of the two Han dynasties to the Wei and Jin dynasties in Liaoning indicate that agricultural production and social economy entered a new stage of development at that time, and it can also be seen that the food and beverage products were very rich at that time.
Lu Ji of eastern Wu of the Three Kingdoms wrote in the Maoshi Grass, Wood, Birds, Animals, Insects and FishEs: "The beauty of fish, Yuyang, Quanzhou and Liaodong Liangshui." The bream is fat and thick, especially beautiful in China. Therefore, its hometown language is cloudy, 'live on the grain, Liang Shui Bream'. "Juyi refers to Juyi County, Liaodong in the Han Dynasty, located in the present-day Hancheng of Liangjia Mountain, southeast of Liaoyang." Juyi Grain", specifically referring to the sorghum abundant in the Liaodong region; "Liangshui bream" should refer to the bream produced in the present-day Taizi River. It can be seen that during the Han Dynasty, the prosperity of fish and grain in Liaodong was already spread in the land of "China".
First, let's talk about staple foods.
Nowadays, a lot of carbonized grains have been found in archaeological results, and the emergence of these grains confirms that the "black land" of our Liaoning and the Liaohe and Taizi rivers nourish our civilization.
Aerial view of dalian big mouth ruins
Carbonized rice
Double-weighted culture
Dalian Dazuizi site excavated
Collection of Dalian Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology
Carbonized sorghum
Located on the southern tip of the Liaodong Peninsula, the Dazuizi site on the coast of the Yellow Sea is a typical site of the Double Stone Culture, dating back about 3300-4000 years. The carbonized sorghum and japonica rice found at the Dazuizi site in Dalian are the earliest physical specimens of crops in Northeast China. Subsequently, the sorghum found in the ruins of the Western Han village in the Three Dao Trenches of Liaoyang is evidence of the storage of grain in the western Han peasant settlements. These findings are consistent with the records of Liaodong products since the pre-Qin Dynasty, and reflect the structure of the grain ingredients of the ancestors.
Carbonized sorghum
Western han dynasty
The ruins of the Western Han Village in the Three Trenches of Liaoyang were excavated
Collection of Liaoning Provincial Museum
The Western Han village of Sandao Trench was located on an alluvial plain on the northern outskirts of Xiangping City in the Han Dynasty, on the west bank of Daliangshui (present-day Taizi River). The relics excavated from the Three Trench sites include agriculture, handicrafts, and transportation, and have obtained a large amount of physical evidence for the study of the social life conditions in the Eastern Liaoning region during the Western Han Dynasty. The discovery of carbonized sorghum indicates that the "juzhi sorghum" in the historical data was mostly stored in this area.
According to Guo Yigong's "Guangzhi" quoted in the "Records of Beginners" written by Xu Jian in the Tang Dynasty, our Liaodong region is rich in chiliang, and the yield and quality are superior, which attracts the attention and love of Cao Cao, the emperor of Weiwu, who also designated Liaodong chiliang as "royal use".
In addition to red sorghum, crops such as millet, millet and rice are also planted. In order to better grow crops, it is inseparable from the continuous improvement of agricultural tools, iron farming tools in the labor durable, and are widely used.
During the Wei and Jin dynasties of the two Han Dynasties, in addition to the Han people in Liaodong who were mainly farmers, there were also nomadic ancestors such as Wuhuan and Xianbei who were mainly active in the western Liaoning region, and nomadism, hunting, and gathering became their main sources of diet. As Murong Xianbei continued to grow and his rulers appointed displaced people who had entered the western Liaoning region due to the turmoil in the Central Plains, and continued to absorb Han cultural factors, Murong Xianbei gradually turned from nomadic to settled. The arrival of the displaced people in the Central Plains not only promoted the improvement of Murong Xianbei's agricultural technology, but also promoted the integration of diverse diets in the region.
Iron wedge
Sixteen Kingdoms Former Yan
The North Ticket Lama Cave Cemetery was excavated
Collection of Liaoning Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology
Shovels
Shovel
What if you want to eat some pasta or other food that needs to be processed? Of course there are grain processing tools! We can still see tools such as grinding discs and stepping stones in the rural compounds today, but in fact, as early as the Han Dynasty, they were already used.
Pottery mills
Chinese
Grind up and down the disc
The Dongjiagou Han Tomb in Dalian was excavated
Chaoyang Large Bungalow Beishan Jin Tomb was excavated
Collection of Chaoyang County Museum
Grey pottery stepping
Next, it's time to think about what to do with the dish, that is, the side food. In the pre-Qin period, the cooking technique of dishes was relatively simple, mainly for grilling and steaming. After the Qin and Han Dynasties, with the invention of vegetable oil, cooking techniques such as stir-frying, frying, frying, and frying have been improved and improved, which has also made the choice of meat, eggs, vegetables and fruits more diverse. The murals found in the tombs carry a lot of information, especially the murals of the Han and Wei dynasties, which are most rich in kitchen diagrams and meal maps.
Beef is not something you can eat casually!
After the Qin and Han Dynasties, meat consumption gradually increased, and meat consumption mainly came from poultry and wild animals raised by the family. With the development of animal husbandry, the proportion of meat in people's diets during the Two Han Dynasties increased much compared with the previous generation. Horses, cattle, sheep, pigs, dogs, and chickens were the most important domestic livestock and poultry of the time. During the Qin and Han dynasties, the imperial court attached great importance to agriculture, so there were very strict protection measures for cultivating cattle, and only when there were major events in the country, the emperor "gave the people a hundred households of cattle wine", and the people could eat beef, so beef can be said to be meat that can be enjoyed by the upper talents. As an important means of transportation, horses basically do not eat meat. The most commonly eaten by people are pork and chicken. At that time, small-scale farmers took pig raising and chicken raising as a sideline business model, which provided a feasible way for the widespread consumption of pork and chicken. And mutton is often used as a tribute to the imperial court, and it is difficult for ordinary people to have the opportunity to eat it.
Some meats you wouldn't even think of!
White stroke caption on yellow background
In the mural painting of Tomb No. 1 of The Stick Terrace, the ingredients for the kitchen are animal heads, geese, pheasants, birds, monkeys, heart and lungs, pork, fish, pig heads, pork belly, rabbits and so on. It can also be seen that the method of slaughtering pigs and sheep is basically the same as the slaughtering method and process in rural areas today.
Kitchen diagram
Han Wei
In 1955, the mural tomb no. 1 of the Three Dao Trenches in Liaoyang City was excavated
Facsimile of the Liaoning Provincial Museum
The picture is divided into two layers: the lower part is four gray and white clay urns with a round bottom. The upper part draws a crossbar, and the right side is divided into meat pieces, pheasants, hares, heart and lungs and other meats.
Liaoyang Stick Taizi No. 1 mural tomb was excavated
Painted on the back wall of the small chamber after the tomb
On the back wall of the small chamber after the tomb, a horizontal fir is painted, and eleven iron hooks are attached to the fang, which are divided into hanging turtles, animal heads, geese, pheasants, double birds, monkeys, heart and lungs, piglets, dried fish, fresh fish and other wild game.
Slaughter diagram
Painted on the left wall of the small chamber behind the tomb
In the upper right corner of the left wall of the small chamber behind the tomb, a short black robe was tied with a man, holding a long knife to dismember a beast. The next black robe belt people bend down to cut the intestinal meat on the trick, there is a square plate on the left, a person behind the back holds the object, a high pole is erected in the center, the top two horizontal poles are full of gastrointestinal meat pieces, a man holds two long poles to hook, and the man behind a dog looks up at the meat on the shelf, salivating. The man in the second black short coat held a horn in his upper hand and led a cow to the front of the large iron wok, and the cow seemed to stop; a fat pig was placed on the right short-legged square of the wok, and the rope was tied to four legs; and a short-clothed strong man next to him held a wooden pole obliquely, as if preparing to slaughter pigs and cattle.
The types of food and the way they are processed are very detailed in the kitchen chart.
The eastern part of the north wall of the Tomb of Yuan Taizi in Chaoyang was excavated
The facsimile is now in the Liaoning Provincial Museum
The eastern part of the north wall of the Chaoyang Yuan Taizi mural tomb is painted with a slaughtering map, and the picture is divided into two layers. In the upper picture, iron chain hooks are hung on the fangs, and meat pieces, pheasants, fish and other food are hung on the hooks. The lower level depicts two black pigs tied up for slaughter and a sheep, and a man dragging a cow underneath.
According to the scientific determination of human bones in Han tombs in the coastal area of Eastern Liaoning, it was found that a considerable part of the animal protein supplement in the diet of the ancestors of the Han Dynasty in the coastal area at that time came from seafood.
The Zizhi Tongjian records that "the Zhi clan tasted the frozen fish of JiXiasi, and in midwinter it was yellow, and (Murong) Xixia Hadi was not obliged to cut it off." It is said that in the Wei and Jin Dynasties, there was a kind of fish that was eaten called "frozen fish", that is, sashimi made of carp, and the empress liked it very much.
In the murals, there are tanks, urns and other storage utensils, which should be used as containers for juicing or marinating food through the murals.
Clay pot
Eastern han dynasty
Pulandian Jiang Tun Han tomb excavated
Pottery urn
Collected in Liaoyang area
Zhang Qian of the Western Han Dynasty sent two missions to the Western Regions, stepped out of a "Silk Road", and introduced a number of vegetable varieties through the "Silk Road", according to research, the vegetables introduced were cucumbers, broad beans, carrots, coriander, garlic, alfalfa, shallots and so on. Fruit varieties include: grapes (of course, historical records recorded, only the royal family and nobles of the time can enjoy), pomegranates, walnuts, dates and so on. As for local specialties, it is difficult to survive the archaeological excavations, so what vegetables and fruits the Liaoning people had at that time are only found in the literature.
The ancients from two meals a day to three meals a day, from the preparation, cooking, and taste of each meal to feel the taste of life, in the simple meal to find the excitement of life.
Life begins with "food", and the people take food as the sky.
Source: Academic Research Department
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