To say that the largest banquet in Chinese history is probably the "Banquet of a Thousand Sorrows" of the two ancestors of the Kangxi and Qianlong dynasties of the Qing Dynasty. In my opinion, this can also be called one of the "most cattle in history" performance art: thousands of elderly people eating at the same time, and improvising thousands of poems, which have shocked the whole country and been passed down to future generations.
There have been four times in history, and like many great stories, the beginning of the Feast of a Thousand Sorrows was by chance.
In the fifty-second year of the Kangxi Dynasty (1713), the 60th birthday of the Kangxi Emperor was approaching, and after more than 50 years of taking charge of state affairs, the Qing Empire had an unprecedented prosperous scene, and some people began to take the initiative to wish Kangxi a happy birthday. The Kangxi Emperor pushed the boat along the water, and also felt that there were hundreds of emperors since ancient times, but none of them had enjoyed the country for so long as he did, and decided to do his 60th birthday. Subsequently, the world was warned that all elderly people over the age of 65 could go to the capital to participate in the "Yangchun Garden Feast". In addition to the elderly, the banquet participants also included some old women of the Eight Flags, with a total of 3,000 people.
In the sixty-first year of the Kangxi Dynasty (1722), also the last year of the Kangxi Emperor's reign, a feast of a thousand monks was held again. Perhaps at that time, the Kangxi Emperor also felt that his time was short, and from the second day of the first lunar month of that year, he feasted on civil and military ministers over the age of 65 and retired officials, etc., more than a thousand people before and after. During the banquet, Kangxi improvised the poem "The Feast of a Thousand Sorrows", and the banquet was named after it.
(Image from the Internet)
As the saying goes, "the next generation of relatives", Qianlong has regarded his grandfather Kangxi as his biggest idol all his life, and imitating the behavior of following Kangxi is also his biggest dream in life.
In the fifty years of Qianlong (1785), he realized that he was already qualified to hold a feast of a thousand monks like Kangxi. To add, Qianlong began to make great preparations a year in advance. In the forty-ninth year of Qianlong (1784), he informed the envoys of Korea and Japan to stay in Beijing and prepare to participate in the next year's grand ceremony. In October of that year, Qianlong also issued a "Order for the Solicitation of a Thousand Sorrows Banquet" to the whole country, which stipulated that those over the age of 65, regardless of the government or the people, and those who were below the age of 60 in Beijing Sipin, could attend the grand banquet in the first month of the following year.
On the sixth day of the first lunar month of the 50th year of Qianlong, the banquet of the Thousand Sorrows was held as scheduled in the Qianqing Palace, with more than 3,000 participants over the age of 60, and a total of more than 800 tables were opened. Qianlong zi was very happy, learning the original rhyme of Kangxi's poem "The Feast of a Thousand Sorrows", and also wrote a poem "The Feast of a Thousand Sorrows", which had clouds: "The Nine Heavy Society of the Reward of the Emperor and the Emperor, the Ten Thousand Spring Extensions of the National Day of Heavenly Grace." The grandchildren feasted on two thousands of people, and Shi Ce spared him. The old men who attended the banquet naturally also knew how to coax Qianlong to be happy, and they also wrote impromptu poems, a total of more than 3,000 poems, which can be called a super "poetry competition".
The last time was in the first year of Jiaqing (1796), and Qianlong, who had enjoyed 60 years of statehood, did not want to surpass his grandfather Kangxi, so he took the initiative to abdicate and let his son Jiaqing ascend the throne. Even if it is a farewell, it can also be regarded as a commemoration, on the fourth day of the first month of the first month of that year, in the Imperial Pole Hall of Ningshou Palace, there were more than 3,000 participants, at that time Qianlong was 86 years old, and the age threshold for those who participated in the Thousand Sorrows Banquet was also raised to more than 70 years old.
The Banquet of the Thousand Sorrows is a cultural show, but also a political show of the two generations of emperors of Kangqian, and it is also like a photo of the prosperous world. After Qianlong, the national strength gradually declined, so the Feast of a Thousand Sorrows gradually became a legend.
Due to the detailed records, the Banquet of the Thousand Sorrows also left us with a valuable Qing Dynasty food list, which can even be seen as the prototype of the Manchu and Han dynasty in a sense.
For example, at the 50th year of Qianlong's Feast of thousands of people, there were two hot pots, one pork slice, one lamb slice, one plate of deer tail roasted venison, one plate of leg mutton black fork, as well as two snails and small dishes, two ebony tendons, and meat soup rice, which are very similar to the current diet, such as snails, this small dish, obviously from the south, it can be seen that the integration of Manchu and Han dishes at that time has reached a very high level.
After the Feast of the Thousand Sorrows, the Emperor also gave ruyi, Shou Wan, Chao Zhu, Mink Skin, Wen Play, Silver Medal, etc. to the old people who feasted on them, which made respecting the elderly popular, although it cost a lot of money, but it had a positive social effect.
The Feast of the Thousand Sorrows was so famous that it was imitated by later generations. On October 28, 2006, Guangxi Yongfu invited 1,199 elderly people over the age of 70 across the country to set up a banquet of 200 tables, forming a huge "Shou" character, the average age of the participants reached 75 years old, reproducing the long-standing grand scene of the Thousand Sorrows Banquet, and the Shou character composed of the banquet was also included in the Guinness Book of World Records.
There has been no shortage of feasts in Chinese dynasties, and the Feast of a Thousand Sorrows is one of them. When it comes to modern feasts, especially banquets that have a major impact on a cuisine, we have to mention Chen Guofu, a famous resident of the Republic of China.
Chen Guofu was an important member of the Republic of China and a confidant of Chiang Kai-shek, and his other name was "famous gourmet".
When Chen Guofu was chairman of the Jiangsu provincial government, he had a habit of inviting his colleagues to his home to dine, but there was one condition: he had to bring a dish of his hometown's specialties or local ingredients.
After this kind of banquet was held a lot, officials of all sizes in Jiangsu also knew about his habits, so they sent delicious food and materials. On New Year's Day 1937, Chen Guofu simply held a "famous cuisine competition", allowing officials from all over the country to bring famous dishes from their hometowns to participate, and judged the best dishes according to the standards of color, aroma, taste, shape and meaning.
This banquet gathered almost all the famous dishes in the future Su cuisine, and it can also be said that it is a systematic and mature display of Su cuisine as an independent cuisine. Famous dishes include Suzhou's mackerel lung soup (made with mackerel's liver and ham), Jiangyin's puffer fish, Wuxi's crisp eel (fried with seasonings), meat bones (i.e. ribs), Changshu sauce chicken, Songjiang's four gill perch, Zhenjiang's pork (famous crystal dish meat, that is, pig's trotters), Yangzhou's crab powder lion's head, etc.
The results of the selection were unexpected, these famous dishes fell one after another, and a shrimp pot created by Chen Guofu won the first place.
This dish should have originated from the "first dish under heaven" in Suzhou, which was already famous during the Qianlong period, but Chen Guofu's approach has changed, and he has innovated this dish by combining tomatoes, shrimp, pots and fairy chicken (i.e., stewed chicken).
The original first dish in the world was to fry the pot first, and then pour in the soup. Chen Guofu's approach is to stew chicken soup first, and then put it into the pot, at this time the pot will make a snorting sound when it is hot, the aroma is overflowing, crisp and delicious.
The color combination of this dish is also very flattering, red has tomatoes, yellow has mushrooms, white has chicken shreds, green has green vegetables, powder has shrimp, brilliant and dazzling. Coupled with the sound of the dish, the aroma is overflowing, and it can be regarded as beautiful color, taste, sound harmony, and catchiness, "four virtues are complete".
Everyone tried it, and it was wonderful. An aide immediately touted: "Mushrooms and tomatoes are juxtaposed, Chinese and foreign are integrated; shrimp and mushrooms coexist, water and land are used together; pots and chicken soup coexist, dry and wet; shrimp and cocks can stretch and bend." It's all-encompassing and well deserved. ”
Seeing that this dish was sought after by everyone, Chen Guofu was overjoyed, and immediately made a song "Ode to the World's First Dish":
It is the first dish in the world, and it is full of color, sound and fragrance. The guests were not exclusively for the mouth, but should also entertain the eyes, ears and nose. This dish is not expensive and can be substituted for swallow ear or shark fin. Tomato pot chicken and shrimp, not only sweet but also more stomach. Dry and wet and wet, Chinese and foreign water and land products. Courage can go to the enemy to bend and stretch, because of things can especially stimulate morale. I solemnly propagate it today, and I do not forget to share my desires at every meal.
The poem was later published in newspapers and widely disseminated. Therefore, in the Republic of China era, the Su cuisine represented by Chen Guofu, the Cantonese cuisine represented by Hu Hanmin, the Hunan cuisine represented by Tan Yanmin, and the popular Shanghai cuisine at that time were all popular in the sea, which could be called the four major cuisines at that time.
In fact, there are many methods of pot, sichuan cuisine also has a similar method to pot shrimp, only to pour the juice of pot, there are three fresh meat slice soup, chicken cuttlefish soup and so on. I've also made some modifications to this dish, such as sauerkraut fresh fish fillet soup for pouring juice, sauerkraut mashed potato soup (this is vegan), kimchi meat slices, etc.
In addition, I made a Tujia burger. After the pan is fried, it is made of two slices of skin, and it is filled with salt vegetables, dried tofu puree, and mashed potatoes, which becomes a filling, because the salt dish is a dish of the Tujia family, so it is called "Tujia Burger", which is crispy and refreshing to eat, very unique.
Speaking of pots, Kawachi thinks that the "Ding jar of rice" is the best left, but it is rare. Make shrimp pot bar, with ordinary pot bar is also very good, this dish is very famous, the taste is very good, the operation is actually not troublesome, can be made at home.
During the Anti-Japanese War, the shrimp pot ba also had a nickname in Chongqing, called "Bombing Tokyo". All because at that time, Chongqing suffered from the bombing of Japanese aircraft, a restaurant came up with this "anti-hate" name, when serving, with hot soup poured on the pot, screeching, and then eat into the stomach, it is very enjoyable, crunching when chewing, can also be used as revenge for the Japanese army "gritting teeth".