Pingyao County in Jinzhong City, Shanxi Province, is famous for an ancient city, which is a world cultural heritage, a national historical and cultural city, and a national 5a-level scenic spot.
And every year from the 23rd to the 16th of the first month, a grand Chinese Pingyao Year event will be held here, where Chinese and foreign tourists gather to spend the festival together.
This is a unique welcome ceremony in the ancient city of Pingyao, and it is also an indispensable and important part of the Chinese New Year activities in Pingyao.
The county grand master led the master, maid and three classes of servants out of the south gate of the ancient city to welcome the kaoru gate and welcome the guests to the ancient city.
The welcome ceremony is modeled after the ceremonial procedures of the County Grand Master of the Qing Dynasty to welcome higher-level officials and VIPs, and the scene is grand with songs and dances.
Pingyao Ancient City is the most complete ancient city in China's Han ethnic areas, with a long history of nearly 2800 years.
Today, there are still more than 10,000 residents in the ancient city, living in nearly 4,000 well-preserved Ming and Qing Dynasty houses. The numerous dart boards and ticket number ruins in these ancient buildings bear witness to the glorious development of Jin Shang.
Founded in the sixth year of Qing Xianfeng (1856), The Synergy Celebration is one of the many ticket numbers.
Merchants deposit the silver two into the ticket number, and then take the bill of exchange issued by the ticket number to withdraw money from another place, which solves the problems in the two major trades of a large number of silver and two long-distance transportation inconveniences and safety.
The ticket number is an account period every three years, and if it is just in time, on this day, Caidong will also preside over the dividend ceremony with the big treasurer.
Caidong is called silver shares with two shares, and employees do not need to contribute capital, and they can obtain shares by labor, which is called body shares, and can also obtain rich dividends.
Caidong also has an important mission to go to the ticket number during the New Year, that is, to reward employees who have made outstanding contributions in the past year.
At dinner, the employee is at the top of the table.
And this meal also has another special meaning.
Hao Xinxi, a member of the Pingyao Ancient City Protection Expert Committee: "If an employee says that due to personal work mistakes, he must leave this ticket number, it is not the Caidong or the big treasurer who resigns his number, at this table at dinner, he will be invited up, and then a plate of fish, the fish head is facing whom, then this employee who needs to resign will take the initiative to resign." ”
At that time, the Jin merchants welcomed distinguished guests or held a large dinner with nine bowls and nine plates during the New Year's Festival. That is, nine cold dishes and nine bowls. From the selection of ingredients to the presentation of side dishes, nine bowls and nine plates are very exquisite.
What Master Zhao Tianli is making is the red stewed meat in nine bowls.
Choose a piece of fat and lean pork belly, and cook it in a pot for 40 minutes with peppercorns and other condiments. After the meat is cooked, add white sugar to the hot oil, wait for the sugar to melt into caramel color, then add water, put in the cooked pork belly, the main role of this step is to color.
After coloring, the pork belly is cut into square pieces, placed in a steaming bowl, and then served with condiments such as onion, ginger, salt, soy sauce, and placed in a steamer. After steaming for 10 minutes, add the fried potato pieces to the steaming bowl.
Take a bowl and cover it on the steaming bowl, and in turn buckle it, so the bowl is also called a buckle bowl. Then raise the pot, add the broth and various spices to the mixture, and then pour the prepared soup on the meat pieces, at this time, the red stew is completely completed.
The main raw materials of the nine bowls are pork, which are made by a variety of different production methods, and finally form a variety of different styles and different tastes. In the nine bowls, there is a cold dish hidden.
Cut the cabbage into segments and blanch them in boiling water. After that, add the seasonings such as shallots, ginger, chili pepper sugar and pepper water, and spray with hot oil. The processed cabbage in this way maintains its own taste, and it is also crisp in the mouth, sweet and sour.
The marinated slices of pure lean meat are then evenly covered over the cabbage segments. This cold dish, on the surface, looks like meat, but inside there is another mystery. Sandwiched in nine bowls, it is mainly to give diners a taste, which plays a role in nutritional balance.
Nine bowls and nine plates was a luxury in the past, and now it has become a common delicacy on the ordinary Pingyao people's usual and New Year's table.
Every year during the New Year, the shops in the ancient city would pool their money to sing a big drama in the City God Temple, but this play was sung to the god of wealth.
During the glory days of Jinshang, he traveled all over Asia and even ventured into the European market. Following their footsteps, not only did Guan Gong become a recognized god of martial wealth, but the Pingyao beef they carried with them was also famous all over the world.
Pingyao beef is a national geographical indication product, the meat is tender, mellow and delicious, suitable for all ages. It is also a delicacy that Pingyao people cannot lack in their usual and Chinese New Year's Eve meals.
Pingyao's beef processing has a history of more than 2,000 years, and the traditional processing technology has won the title of National Intangible Cultural Heritage. The selected beef is first salted, which used to be pickled for one week to thirty days according to the season, but after using modern science and technology, the pickling time was shortened to three days.
Then slow simmer, turn off the heat and simmer slowly, after twelve hours of brine, the Pingyao beef with full color and flavor is ready. A piece of meat, a knife, a pinch of salt, a jar and a pot, without any other condiments, have achieved the reputation of Pingyao beef.
Pingyao beef, polish lacquerware and long yam are known as the Three Treasures of Pingyao. During the Chinese New Year, it is also a good choice to buy a polished lacquer ornament or utensil that symbolizes auspiciousness.
Pingyao's polishing lacquerware is named after the unique lighting technique in the production process, which uses the palm to promote the luster, and is a national intangible cultural heritage.
The production process of polishing lacquerware is complex, and brushing paint and lighting need to be repeated many times, but each work is made by hand, so it is a unique existence. The material used to push the polish lacquerware is also very exquisite, and the golden lines like this are pasted with gold leaf little by little.
Push polish lacquerware is widely used, can make works of art, but also made into furniture, ornaments, but also with porcelain and metal integration, bring people a different feeling.
In the streets and alleys of the ancient city, you can see a sign selling bowls, bowls can be mixed cold or stir-fried, and dozens of ways to eat can be changed according to different ingredients.
Pingyao people's loyalty to the bowl is beyond people's imagination, no matter morning or evening, whether it is winter or summer, whether it is usual or New Year's Day, a bowl of seeds can be used as a dish and a staple food.
The process of making bowl sheds is not complicated. High gluten flour is added to water and into a batter, and the continuous beating is to make the batter tough, followed by adding water, and finally the ratio of flour to water reaches 1 to 2.5, and then add salt and fried green onions.
The cage drawer is filled with small plates, pour in the prepared batter and steam for ten minutes on high heat. After cooling, peel off the bowl from the small plate piece by piece, and the bowl off is completed.
The community fire and flower viewing lanterns are traditional projects that are indispensable in many places for the New Year. Li Xiaoqian skillfully combined the two in a colorful lamp.
Dozens of characters are different, and each character is in motion, completing his or her own movements. This Nine Dragon Wall is also a more proud work of Li Xiaoqian, and the shape of the Nine Dragons is lifelike, not only moving but also able to spray clouds and fog.
Li Xiaoqian is 60 years old this year, has been making lanterns for many years, and has also witnessed the process of continuous development of lanterns with the progress of science and technology. After soaking and roasting, the sorghum stalks are tied into a frame of colored lamps and pasted with colored paper.
Nowadays, the lantern frame is welded with iron wire, the color paper is also replaced by satin, and the use of sound and photoelectric technology, so the lantern is more and more complex and better.
Wang Ruiqin, 60 years old, who lives in the ancient city of Pingyao, is also busy pasting lanterns with her second daughter-in-law, Gao Tianyu. At the same time, Wang Ruiqin's second daughter Wu Xiaoli and eldest daughter-in-law Yang Xingxing are busy visiting the market and buying New Year goods.
Red and red over the Big Year, the New Year is naturally indispensable to the Spring League and window flowers, after careful selection and comparison, the two people have such a pair of Spring League.
Preparing a large family of Chinese New Year's Eve rice is not an easy task, yang xingxing to do is Shanxi oil meat. The seasonings used are pepper water, starch, chicken essence, pepper and salt.
First, beat an egg into the sliced meat, add various seasonings and stir well, and finally add starch and marinate for ten minutes. During the process of curing, various excipients can be prepared.
When the oil temperature reaches 70% or 80% hot, the marinated meat slices can be put off the pot. Fry the slices until golden brown and stir-fry. Stir-fry the various accessories in a pan of onion, ginger and garlic, and then add the fried meat slices. Add soy sauce, pepper water and salt in turn.
After a few minutes of stir-frying, a plate of Shanxi oily meat with full color and flavor is ready.
What Xiao li was going to do was pluck the silk yam. The material for making the yam is relatively simple, with cut yam pieces and sugar. Whether or not you can do this dish well depends on the grasp of the heat.
Start by blowing up the yam blocks. Then heat the oil and pour in the sugar. After the sugar has melted enough to a caramel color, it is added to the yam. Stir-fry quickly, let the yam and sugar juice fully fused, and the yam can be pulled out of the pot.
As night fell, some people were busy pasting Spring Festival, some people were busy pasting window flowers, and Wu Xiaoli pasted a blessing word on a charcoal block on the windowsill.
The window lights on the windowsill were lit, the red lanterns in the courtyard were lit, and a sumptuous Chinese New Year's Eve meal was prepared. There is Pingyao beef, there are bowls of peels, and there are bean sprouts and bowls. The family sat around the table, saying goodbye to the old and welcoming the new, celebrating the Spring Festival.
Broadcast notifications
On January 9, 19:28 CCTV financial channel cctv2 "Consumer Proposition" broadcast "Hometown's New Year's Taste: Pingyao, Shanxi", replayed at 16:29 the next day, so stay tuned!