Three Yellow Chicken Cold Cuts Visual China Infographic
Living in Shanghai, I often hear people talk about the three yellow chickens, but everyone will add a place name to restrict them and become "Pudong three yellow chickens". That is to say, the three yellow chickens in Pudong are the most famous breed of traditional edible chickens in Shanghai, so they are favored by countless old diners.
However, the first place in Shanghai to produce three yellow chickens is not Pudong, but Jiading. This point is somewhat unexpected by later generations.
Jiading three yellow chickens
Mr. Xue Liyong discovered this problem, and in the 2nd issue of Pudong Development in 2001, he quoted the words in Ming Liu Xue's "Jie'an Old Man's Comic Pen", saying: "Jiading Nanxiangluo shop out of three yellow chickens, mouth and foot fur pure and perfect, weigh several pounds, can cure diseases." Liu Xue was born in the eighteenth year of Hongzhi (1505) and died in the twenty-first year of the Wanli Calendar (1593), and it is estimated that this text was written after he was thirty or forty years old, around the middle of Jiajing. This is the earliest record of the three yellow chickens that Mr. Xue saw in the Shanghai area, so he deduced: "There are three yellow chickens in Shanghai with a history of no less than 400 years, and they have become famous in Jiangnan. "Mr. Xue's discovery should be said to be more interesting, he found that in the history of Jiading area is the breeding of three yellow chickens, so on the whole he pushed forward the history of Shanghai three yellow chickens." However, since the historical data he saw of Jiading with three yellow chickens was not the earliest, his speculation was more conservative.
The earliest surviving Jiading Fangzhi is the "Lianchuan Tuji" compiled by Dumu Yuming Zhengde in the fourth year (1509), which says in the volume "Property": "Jiading property, where grains, vegetables and fruits, poultry and fish, flowers and cloth are often the same as other counties. The difference is that the domestic animal has three yellow chickens, the beak, distance and skin are the same color, the largest is eight or nine pounds, the most fat. "According to Dumu's meaning, Jiading's property is no different from most places in Jiangnan, and there is nothing in Jiading in other places, but only the three yellow chickens are Jiading's unique products. The three yellows of this chicken refer to the mouth, feet and skin of the chicken, which are yellow, larger and fatter. Since Dumu did not specify which area in Jiading this chicken was raised, we estimate that this three-yellow chicken can be seen in many areas of Jiading. In terms of time, it is more than 500 years away from today. When Du Mu compiled the book, this chicken was widely bred in Jiading, and the breeding history of the three yellow chickens in Jiading can actually be pushed forward.
In addition, we also saw Pu Nanjin's "Jiading County Chronicle", which also recorded the three yellow chickens. The book was compiled in the thirty-sixth year of Jiajing (1557), which is roughly the same period as the aforementioned Liu Xue's book, and in the third volume of the "Property", the former zhi is used, talking about the three yellow chickens "beak, distance and skin are the same color, most of them are eight or nine pounds", it should be said that the breeding of the three yellow chickens has not changed from the time of Dumu fifty years ago, so the book is quoted in turn.
Later, about fifty years later, the Chronicle of Jiading County, compiled in the thirty-third year of the Wanli Calendar (1605), the record of the three yellow chickens underwent some changes. In Book VI, "Property", the book mentions: "The chicken, the one who goes out of the big field, is called three yellow chickens, and the beak, distance, and skin are all the same color, up to nine pounds." According to Liu Xue, he said that three yellow chickens were produced in the Nanxiang and Luodian areas of Jiading, indicating that this kind of chicken is more common in the southern and eastern regions of Jiading. However, the Chinese character of Wan Lizhi is basically the continuation of the former zhi, but it is only indicated that it is produced in Dachang, which is obviously not written arbitrarily, and it should be that the three yellow chickens in Jiading are widely produced, but the three yellow chickens produced in Dachang are the most famous. According to the Dachang area in the Song Dynasty near the sea, there was once a salt field, "its land east and west three miles", is a very wide salt field, hence the name Dachang. In the Ming Dynasty, a town was set up and became a regional trade center. The fame of the three yellow chickens should have something to do with the rise of local commerce.
Entering the Qing Dynasty, the three yellow chickens of Dachang were famous far and wide. Kangxi", Jiading County Chronicle, volume IV, has a very detailed description of the three yellow chicken breeds in Dachang: "Three yellow chickens, out of the big field, the beak, distance, and skin are all the same color, as large as nine, so it is also called nine yellow." The other chickens are also yellow in color and extremely fat and tender. He took the seeds and nursed them, and the colors and tastes changed. The hen will give birth to a child, and the baby chicken will be called. Also take the rooster heavy one five six two, summer moon castration, raise up to six or seven, the name of the chicken, the common line chicken, also known as the chicken, the child chicken, tender and upset. The taste of chicken fat is two kinds of food, and the nail is in the sea. "The title of Jiujin Huang had already appeared in the early Qing Dynasty. The chickens in the big field, all yellow, are known for their fat and tender. This kind of chicken can also be raised into a baby chicken, upset chicken for sale, the reputation of "A in the sea", far and near have been known. Qianlong's "Baoshan County Chronicle" Volume IV also said: "Chicken, the name of the person who goes out of the big field is three yellow chickens. "There are yellow chickens everywhere, but the chickens in the big field are the authentic three yellow chickens, and the mouth, feet and skin are all the same yellow, and the size is larger.
In the late Qing Dynasty, was the three yellow chickens of Dachang still famous? The current Fang Zhi records do not see any change. The Guangxu "Baoshan County Chronicle" volume 14 still talks about the three yellow chickens in Dachang, but it is the same as the record of the Ming Dynasty's "Jiading County Chronicle", and I speculate that this is just a gourd drawn by the cultivators, which does not mean that the breeding of three yellow chickens in Dachang still has a good momentum. On the contrary, it can be estimated that there is still a certain number of three yellow chickens in the large field, but there is nothing special about it compared with the previous generation. And the three yellow chickens of Nanxiang and Luodian that Liu Xue talked about in the Ming Dynasty are even more gone. When talking about chickens in the Qing Dynasty's Luodian Zhenzhi, volume 1 said: "Another kind of pure white hair, golden chest, green ears, and green feet is commonly known as a cure for pediatric convulsions." "The book doesn't mention any other breeds, only that this green-footed, white-haired chicken is a bit distinctive. The introduction of the property of "Nanxiang Town" does not mention chickens, indicating that the chickens raised by people have no characteristics to speak of.
Pudong three yellow chicken
In the early Qing Dynasty, the breeding of three yellow chickens also shined in the Pudong area of Shanghai. In the fifteenth volume of the Chronicle of the County of Fenjian Nanhui hall compiled by Yongzheng In the eighth year of Yongzheng (1730), it is said: "Chicken, the one who produces Pudong is large, has the names of nine pounds of yellow and twelve black. "Nine pounds of yellow should be three yellow chickens, similar in size to the three yellow chickens in the big field." Later, the "New Chronicle of Nanhui County" in the last year of Qianlong reproduced this sentence. The earliest information on the Pudong chicken as a special breed in the above-mentioned Xue Liyong article is the "Chuansha Fumin Hall Zhi" compiled by Daoguang Sixteenth Year (1836), because volume 11 mentions that Chuansha "has chickens, the largest production of Yi, and has nine pounds of yellow and black twelve", which is obviously the continuation of the previous Zhi data, and in fact, the three yellow chickens in Pudong have long been famous in this 100 years ago.
During the Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, the Pudong three yellow chicken became a characteristic poultry in the Shanghai area and was deeply loved by people. Volume VIII of the Republic of China's "Continuation of Shanghai County" talks about the many types of Pudong chickens, "Those who come out of Pudong have the names of nine pounds of yellow and black twelve. The eggs are smaller than those of ducks, and the eggs are nourishing. Meat tastes the most beautiful, sells widely, and is one of the farmers and livestock. "Until the founding of New China, the three yellow chickens continued to be farmed in many areas of Pudong.
However, today it belongs to the same Shanghai area, but the Pudong Three Yellow Chicken and the Dachang Three Yellow Chicken may be different in breed. The first volume of the "DachangLiZhi" compiled by Zhang Yinzu, a dachang person in the 1960s, said: "The local production of chickens is called Dachang chicken, and pudong chicken. Qing chicken comes from the pudong area of the hatchery, the chicken breed is not large, because the eggs are hatched with fire, so its name is also called fire chicken. There is also a kind of Pudong chicken, which is born from the incubation of eggs by hens, and the chicken breed is quite large and famous. I'm in the big field area. The chicks hatched by the hens are also of large breed, which is the famous large field chicken. The book also quotes "slang genetics", saying: "Dachang Luojia chicken, nine pounds of yellow, black twelve, reed flower eighteen, sauce twenty-four." There is a luo surname in the town, "raising chickens is quite exquisite, so there are large breeding chickens." The family specially selected large eggs from large hens to incubate, "so that the chicken breeds are even stronger." According to this point of view, when the three yellow chickens arrived in the Republic of China, there was still a certain amount of existence, and there was a certain degree of attention in breeding. At the same time, the three yellow chicken species in Pudong are spreading outward and entering the market of Dachang, but people believe that the same is known as jiujin yellow, and the big field chicken and the Pudong chicken are two different breeds.
Since the Ming and Qing dynasties, the broiler chicken in Shanghai has always had excellent varieties, and the three yellow chickens in Dachang and the three yellow chickens in Pudong have been famous for more than 500 years, which has made countless diners remember. Preserving some traditional and excellent poultry breeds should be completely necessary in today's era when people are pursuing quality of life.