Nanjing century-old store - Ma Xiangxing

Around 1850, during the light years of the Qing Dynasty, the peasants of Ma Sifa, Henan Province, fled to Nanjing, and set up a rice stall in the Flower Temple outside the Zhonghua Gate, which was opened to the Taiping Army stationed in the area of the Flower Temple, which was also called "Mahui Rice Stall".

After Ma Sifa's death, his son Ma Shengxiang succeeded him, and at that time, the market outside the South Gate gradually developed towards Yuhuatai, and Ma Shengxiang also moved the rice stall to the Huimin settlement on the right side of Yuhuatai , "Huihui Camp", officially named "Ma Xiangxing". The word "Xiang" is the name of Ma Shengxiang, and the word "Xing" means prosperity. Folk people have a slip of the tongue about "desert rice stalls" such as Ma Xiangxing: "To sit inside the meal, the little donkey is tethered over, the rice is fragrant and white, the beef is roasted with radish, you have to eat it, and the beef is fried and stir-fried." ”

So, why did "Ma Xiangxing" start in the Ming Dynasty? After the Xinhai Revolution, Ma Shengxiang once again moved the restaurant to Mixing Avenue outside the Zhonghua Gate (now Yuhuatai), built two low boxes and a stove room, and began to take shape. The company operates a light dish based on eight kinds of beef (tripe, beef heart, beef tongue, beef tendon, smoked beef, beef soup, etc.), and the food is inexpensive and good, with small profits and quick sales, and gradually praised by diners. "Ma Xiangxing" faces the North Mountain Gate and faces the Bao'en Temple. In order to attract customers, Ma Shengxiang decorated the storefront and asked someone to write a couplet, the upper link was "one hundred pots of fine wine people three drunks", the lower link was "one tower autumn lantern to welcome the six dynasties", and also hung a picture of the ancient tower. According to legend, Bao'en Temple was once the place of the Ming Yongle Emperor, and the couplet contained the charm of quaint and elegant style, so the outside world secretly rumored that "Ma Xiangxing" was an old shop in the Ming Dynasty. It just so happened that there was an old iron pot of boiled beef in the store, and the customers all felt novel and fragrant, and the owner pushed the boat along the water, saying that it was an antiquity inherited from the Ming Dynasty.

The business of "Ma Xiangxing" in the old society had a process of two ups and downs. In 1925, due to the prosperity of business, "Ma Xiangxing" began to operate the feast, Ma Shengxiang has died, the second son Ma Deming inherited the ancestral industry personally in charge of the spoon, there are not enough manpower, he recruited apprentices, the deceased contemporary famous chef Ma Dingsong entered the store at this time, due to the emphasis on the quality of dishes, pay attention to the freshness of the ingredients, emphasize the original taste, coupled with the elegant reputation of the old shop of the Hidden Ming Dynasty, the store has attracted some high-level intellectuals, college students, university professors gradually become "Ma Xiangxing" guests, in addition to the varieties of daily supply, The shop also adapted to their tastes, using shrimp, chicken liver and other tender ingredients to prepare tofu, which was praised by Professors Hu Xiangdong and Hu Xiaoshi of Southeast University. Therefore, the tofu making method of "Ma Xiangxing" spread among college students, and professors and students came to visit, and this dish was ordered as "Hu Tofu", which was an early famous dish.

In 1927, Nanjing became the capital of Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist Government, and the gathering of new upstarts was another situation. Professor Hu Xiangdong asked Tan Ting (Door Yi) "Ma Xiangxing" small test, the store took it seriously, Tan Pingshan zhenhai flavor, occasionally asked halal dishes, Wang Jingwei, Sun Ke, Zhu Minyi and so on followed. Masters such as Ma Deming and Ma Dingsong studied and tried their best to renovate the dishes, and the four famous dishes of Marx Xiangxing's famous Jinling were successfully tried out against this background. The unique flavors of the four famous dishes of "beautiful liver", "squirrel fish", "egg roast selling" and "anchovy shrimp" made Ma Xiangxing's reputation shocked, and the newspaper also introduced it, and it was introduced to the five courts and eight departments of the Kuomintang government. Wang Jingwei, Wang Zhengting, Wang Shijie, and others have repeatedly invited foreign guests to "Ma Xiangxing" in the name of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Nanjing envoys in China also often come to "Ma Xiangxing", of course, interested in not only a few of the famous dishes, foreigners pay more attention to the store China's Ming Dynasty time-honored store brand, daily outside the store traffic, the store business is booming, Ma Deming also built a restaurant, increased the private room.

In 1937, the Japanese invaded and occupied Nanjing, and "Ma Xiangxing" was destroyed in the war, and the tiles did not survive. It was rebuilt on the ruins in 1939. In 1945, after the surrender of Japan, the Kuomintang's powerful and powerful people returned to Nanjing. In order to meet the needs, "Ma Xiangxing" flipped the building, added 8 rooms, added countertops, and nearly 50 employees entered a new climax. Military and political dignitaries Li Zongren, Bai Chongxi, Sun Ke, and others all had big patrons, And Zhang Zhizhong, Shao Lizi, Feng Yuxiang, and Cheng Qian often patronized the store, and Mr. Yu Youren personally wrote "Ma Xiangxing" shop. During the peace talks between the Kuomintang and the Republic of China, Zhou Enlai was also invited by Zhang Zhizhong to "Ma Xiangxing" to taste delicacies.

On the eve of liberation, he was robbed by bandits because of soaring prices. For decades, "Ma Xiangxing", which has been up and down twice, is on the verge of closure. After liberation, the party and the government allocated special funds for its reconstruction. In February 1958, "Ma Xiangxing" moved from Yuhua Road outside the Zhonghua Gate to the current site of Gulou, expanding the scale of operation and listing it as one of the eight major restaurants in Nanjing.

In the decade of catastrophe, the old brand was cancelled, the traditional characteristics were destroyed, and the four famous dishes were replaced by popular food. After the "Cultural Revolution", the old brand of "Ma Xiangxing" was restored. In recent years, the store has been renovated many times, the façade has been renovated, the palindrome "Ma Xiangxing" has been rewritten on the wall, and the seven lines of "Halal Ma Xiangxing Restaurant" written by Mr. Qu Wu, chairman of the Central Committee of the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang, have been restored and developed in seven lines. In June 1982, the Japanese Sun Magazine specially organized a food inspection group to visit the store, filmed a video, and took colorful photos of the dishes. Introduce the store's ancient history and exquisite cuisine to Japan and Southeast Asia. Every day, a large number of domestic and foreign diners flock to the city.