In 1955, on the streets of Beijing, a waiter solicited customers on the street, but the hotel in front of him was empty. Everyone talks about the "Donglaishun" lamb is not delicious. Donglaishun and Quanjude, as a century-old brand in Beijing, China, almost everyone knows it, but it is this Donglaishun Hotel, and suddenly there are no guests in that time period. This news, which spread ten times and ten hundred times, finally reached Chairman Mao's ears and caused a great sensation.
Pictured| Donglaishun in the 50s
Why is Dong lai Shun's meat not delicious?
On February 5, 1956, the People's Daily published a report of 4,000 to 5,000 words, explaining in depth that "the meat of Donglaishun is not delicious" in depth.
At the beginning of the article, the article praises Dong lai shun, which reads:
After the autumn, the weather turned cold, and the shabu lamb from Donglaishun was on the market. Three friends and four friends eat a meal, each person stalled an octagonal one yuan, the price is also fair. 'Old Beijing' all took the autumn to the east to eat shabu lamb as a pleasant enjoyment. Occupy a seat, set up a steaming hot pot, mix with chili oil, shrimp oil, sesame paste and rotten brine and other flavors of the ingredients, feel free to order a few plates of lamb, eat slowly, very flavorful. Love to eat fat, called a plate of big three forks, the flesh color is a white and a red; love to eat thin, called a plate of cucumber strips, the meat color is a piece of red; if you are willing to eat half fat and half thin, call a plate of small three forks is just right, this small three forks of flesh color is another kind: two red middle white. Plate after plate of meat slices are neatly arranged, thinly sliced, rolled into small tubes, looking comfortable, and eating thin and tender.
When people see here, they can't help but drool, and even many friends will have such a scene in their minds: a group of people come to Donglaishun to eat hot pot, and when they eat that delicious lamb, they can't help but say: Don't you say, the lamb in Donglaishun is different.
However, after the article arrived here, it turned sharply:
However, there was a recent period when the shabu lamb in Donglaishun was not delicious. The meat plate is brought up, the meat pieces are in a lump, put into the pot is not a strip, is a piece, put into the mouth can not chew, can not swallow. The ingredients are also poor. Soy sauce is not sweet, tahini sticks to the tongue, and chili oil is sometimes replaced with minced chili peppers mixed with white water. The food is also poor. In the past, sugar garlic was peeled by hand, and the fingers were sticky, like a hand of honey, and the taste was fragrant and sweet; now the sugar garlic seems to be pulled up from the water tank, light, spicy and bitter. Customers have a lot of opinions, and experienced patrons come in not to take a seat first, but to ask first: 'Is the meat good today?' The waiter in the shop cleaned the restaurant, only to see that the floor on the table was full of piles of un chewable meat residue, and his heart was also uncomfortable.
This mixed praise and criticism caused the people of Beijing and even the whole country to have a considerable misunderstanding of donglaishun," which is a "century-old brand." When this incident occurred, Chen Lixin, a non-genetic person from Donglaishun, immediately launched an investigation and even alarmed the police station. Is there a rumor or is it really not delicious?
Figure | DonglaiShun non-genetic person Chen Lixin
At that time, Donglaishun invited several customers to eat for free, what is not good in the end? After the feedback from customers, the quality of the lamb is not good, and the meat slices that come out cannot be chewed. To put it bluntly, the mutton is different, the previous lamb meat slices are more, now it has become less, at the same time, after the joint venture to eat shabu lamb more people, meat cutters did not increase, the public representative only called on meat cut workers to supply meat slices in time to meet the customer's time requirements, but ignored the quality of meat slices.
Even, some customers directly said, Donglaishun public-private partnership, why is the lamb slice so bad? Why did chili oil turn into chili paste and tahini become peanut butter? Some customers even pointedly asked: Why can't the superiority of the joint venture be reflected in the shabu lamb?
Pictured| Chairman Mao
The spearhead of these problems is directly pointed at the central policy, so it is also expected that "the mutton in Donglaishun is not delicious" can reach Chairman Mao's ears.
Chairman Mao: The lamb in Donglaishun must be delicious
The article, published in the newspaper, reads:
"Ensuring the quality of DonglaiShun shabu lamb can indeed be said to be a political task." DonglaiShun shabu mutton is the crystallization of the creative labor of the working people of our country, how can it not be a political task to cherish this cooking art and inherit and carry forward this precious national heritage? Donglaishun's shabu-shabu lamb is not delicious, and people will not only criticize Donglaishun and the unit in the commercial sector, but also criticize the party and the government, and criticize the socialist system. How is this not a political task? ”
Donglaishun, is a chinese time-honored brand, founded in 1903, in the past one hundred years, Donglaishun cuisine as an important branch of The Beijing cuisine, its establishment, development and continuous enrichment, has been to promote the Chinese national food culture, continuation, innovation, development of the Beijing cuisine has made contributions. In 1912, when the idea of new democracy was just beginning, Donglaishun's shabu mutton was famous in Beijing, so Donglaishun had a pivotal position in Beijing.
Figure | founder of Donglaishun
When this matter reached Zhongnanhai, it quickly attracted the attention of central leaders, especially Chen Yun, who was presiding over the national financial and economic work. In Chen Yun's eyes, this incident occurred in the process of socialist transformation of capitalist industry and commerce, and it is a key phenomenon with great influence and must be corrected immediately.
On January 20, 1956, at a meeting of intellectuals, Chen Yun once said: Donglaishun that mutton, people a piece of two cents and eight pounds, we insist on reducing it to a piece of zero and eight points, called to protect the interests of consumers. In order to increase labor productivity, sixty pieces were cut into one pound, but thirty pieces were cut and cut a little thicker. Not only that, Quanjude's roast duck is not good, and the pickles in the sauce garden are not good.
Pictured| 1950s Donglaishun Back Kitchen
These are the results of the investigation, in fact, not only Donglaishun, but even Quanjude, Wang Mazi and other well-known brand products have a problem of poor quality, to put it bluntly, the reason is to change their original business methods.
Chen Yun, in his report to Chairman Mao, said that it had originally used only thirty-five to forty-two pounds of small-tailed sheep, and that the flesh of this sheep was quite tender. We now give it to goats, old sheep also give it, frozen lamb also gives it, how can shabu lamb be delicious? The original price of lamb was a piece of two corners and eight, and after the joint venture, it was the same as that of the general shop, all reduced to one piece and eight, saying that it was for the people and for the consumer. In this way, it also uses the lamb that should not have been used as shabu, of course, it is not as good as the original.
The figure | Chairman Mao's inscription
Chairman Mao immediately pointed out that whether it is industry or commerce, we should do our best to maintain the original good quality, and after the public-private partnership, there should be a special department responsible for variety and quality.
Chairman Mao said: "This is a problem. At this point, we must continue to eat lamb and roast duck even better to prove the superiority of socialism. ”
Moreover, Chairman Mao's personal inscription shows the importance of this matter. Chairman Mao wrote: Wang Mazi, Dong Lai Shun, Quan Jude, must be preserved forever.
Chairman Mao's decision is undoubtedly a sedative shot at these old brands in Donglaishun, and the problems have been analyzed, not the problems of these signboards themselves, but in the public-private partnership, which have caused problems, so it is better to correct them as soon as the causes are found, and not let the reputation of these old brands be affected in the hearts of the people.
At the time of the founding of the People's Republic of China, Chairman Mao also paid a secret visit to Beijing, and he still affirmed the brand and quality of Donglaishun, as a time-honored brand in China, as a cultural heritage of the Chinese people, it cannot be depressed because of public-private partnerships.
After Chairman Mao gave instructions, the various departments immediately took action, and after investigating the reasons and changing the operation of the hotel, they were greatly improved, and the mutton in Donglaishun was still in accordance with the original method, and did not accept any mutton, but had to make its own special features. By ensuring the supply of special raw materials, implementing the policy of high quality and preferential prices, supplementing meat cutters and reforming the wage system, the excellent quality of Donglai Shun Shabu lamb was quickly restored.
In this regard, Chairman Mao famously said that the 'socialist' lamb should be more delicious than the 'capitalist' mutton.
Picture | long-established Tongrentang
Beijing customer: Delicious is enough
After the reform, Donglaishun's reputation in Beijing was finally restored, and "Donglaishun's lamb is not delicious" became "Donglaishun's lamb is delicious again!" Since then, Donglaishun has become the best place to eat in the hearts of the broad masses of the people, and Chairman Mao is also the first choice for Donglaishun when he entertains some national leaders, which shows that at that time, Donglaishun also made important contributions to the diplomatic activities of our country and also made important contributions on the side. After the 1960s, Zhou Enlai, Deng Xiaoping, Chen Yi, Ye Jianying and other leaders all came to Donglaishun to entertain guests, and nixon also gave a high evaluation after coming to China and eating a meal in Donglaishun.
Pictured| Chairman Mao at a banquet
Famous writers Mr. Lao She, Chinese painting master Qi Baishi, Peking Opera master Ma Lianliang and other celebrities of the past, often ate in Donglaishun before their deaths, and left ink treasures for Donglaishun.
Since then, Donglaishun's raw materials have not only recovered, but also better than before. They changed the original unreasonable price, guaranteed the delicacy of the lamb, many customers not only have no opinion, but also laughed and said: as long as it is delicious!
Figure | writer for the old brand inscription
After these storms, Dong Laishun and Quan Jude all restored their reputations, and Chairman Mao and Dong Laishun also became a good story in Beijing.
Now, many years have passed since this incident, and Donglaishun still stands on the list of China's time-honored brands, and some people say that it is fortunate that Chairman Mao saved Donglaishun, otherwise it might not have been there. In fact, in addition to Chairman Mao's care for Donglaishun, there is also its own unique century-old ingenuity, which is the foundation of traditional cultural heritage.