About Boshan cuisine, there have been countless benevolent people have written, from ancient times to the present, there are many discussions, but until recent years, Boshan cuisine has begun to be recognized by the theoretical circles, academic circles as an important branch of Lu cuisine, and more national publications "History of Chinese Food Culture" bluntly said that Boshan is the "birthplace of Lu cuisine", for a time people have different opinions, questions continue.
Boshan cuisine, what exactly has it experienced? Why is it called the birthplace of Boshan? Why do people question it? ......
"Zibo Two and Three Things" will be analyzed one by one through the next three articles by Mr. Shi Hongwei, a well-known local author. Today let's take a look at how old the historic Boshan cuisine is.
Tip: This article is more than 8300 words, and it takes about 16 minutes to read.
IN YI ZHANG
Historic Boshan cuisine
Lu cuisine, a unique and most widely influential cuisine in the flavor genre of Chinese cuisine, is the only spontaneous cuisine among the four major traditional Chinese cuisines (and also the eight major cuisines), and is the oldest, most technical, most difficult and most effective cuisine.
When exactly does China use the term "cuisine" to summarize the flavor of local flavor dishes, and there are many theories in the culinary theory community. At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, the food circles in major cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Ningbo, and Han generally used "bangkou" to represent local flavor dishes in different places, such as "Lu Bang", "Yang Bang", "Chuan Bang", etc., which clearly marked the unique regional flavor of a restaurant. After liberation, this kind of name with the birthmark of the old system gradually faded from people's sight. With the emphasis on the research and teaching of food culture, the term "cuisine" has gradually replaced "help".
In the 1960s, Yao Yilin, then minister of commerce of the People's Republic of China, said in a meeting with a foreign delegation: "In China, there are four major cuisines in cuisine. In the north, the upper and lower reaches of the Yellow River and the great Wall and beyond belong to the Jinglu cuisine; in the southwest, Sichuan, Yunnan, Xiangxiang and Qian belong to the Xiangchuan cuisine; in Lingnan, the Pearl River, Guangdong, Guangdong and Fujian-Taiwan regions belong to the Guangdong and Fujian cuisines; in the southeast, Lianghuai, and the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River belong to the Huaiyang cuisine. At this point, "cuisine" has officially become synonymous with the flavor names of local dishes in China.
In March 1992, the "Dictionary of Chinese Cuisine" issued by China Commercial Publishing House listed the "four major cuisines" as an entry, which caused the culinary associations in Hunan, Fujian, Zhejiang, Anhui and other places to complain, and finally expanded to "eight major cuisines", which gradually became a foregone conclusion.
It can be seen that the title of Lu cuisine appeared too late. Lu cuisine, a generalization of northern cuisine represented by Shandong cuisine, is one of the most famous local cuisines in China, and before the founding of New China, it was collectively known as Shandong cuisine.
Since the Song Dynasty, the diet has varied across China. There is such a record in the "Mengxi Pen Talk": "The people in the south of the bottom are salty, and the people in the north are fond of sweetness." Fish and crabs with molasses, cover convenient for the northern custom also. "At this time, there are two main tastes in China, northerners like to eat sweet, and southerners like to eat salty. The conversion of sweet tastes in the north and south of ancient China was roughly related to the decline from the Tang and Song dynasties, and the increasing promotion trend of sugar cultivation and refining. During the Southern Song Dynasty, northerners immigrated to the south in large numbers, and sweet tastes gradually spread to the south. The food culture of the North influenced the South, forming its own faction in the South. The northern dietary customs were also influenced by mongolian dietary customs. By the end of the Ming Dynasty, Chinese cuisine began to be divided into Beijing, Su and Cantonese. Beijing-style is salty, Su-style and Cantonese-style are sweet.
By the end of the Ming Dynasty, as chili peppers entered Sichuan from South America through India and Tibet, after several evolutions, Sichuan cuisine had been formed in the middle of the Qing Dynasty, and by the end of the Qing Dynasty, it had become one of the four major cuisines. Shandong cuisine, which originated in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, is the only spontaneous cuisine among the four traditional Chinese cuisines. During the Western Zhou And Qin and Han dynasties, Linzi, the capital of the State of Qi, and Qufu, the capital of the State of Lu, were both quite prosperous cities, and the catering industry was very popular, and famous chefs were born. After the Song Dynasty, Shandong cuisine became the representative of "northern food". By the Ming and Qing dynasties, Shandong cuisine had become the main body of the imperial court, and had a great influence on Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei and all parts of northeast China, so it became the first of the four major cuisines. The vast majority of Su cuisine is in the Huaiyang area, so it is also known as Huaiyang cuisine. As a result, the rudiments of the four major cuisines of Lu (Jing), Su (Huaiyang), Guangdong (Cantonese) and Sichuan were formed.
(Jinan cuisine.) Image Source Network)
After the founding of New China, there has always been a saying about the composition of Lu cuisine: Lu cuisine is composed of Jinan cuisine and Jiaodong cuisine, and in recent years, some experts have listed Confucius cuisine as an integral part of Lu cuisine. In fact, this is just an insight into the stage of the development of Lu cuisine. To truly study Lu cuisine, we should start from the historical origin, derivation and formation process of Lu cuisine.
Mr. Wang Shixiang, a former researcher of the State Administration of Cultural Relics, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and a director of the China Cuisine Association, elaborated in the preface to the book "Beijing Flavor" of the famous Chinese cuisine recipe: "If you want to say that Beijing cuisine has characteristics, you should start with Shandong cuisine, which accounts for a large proportion of Beijing cuisine and is crucial to the formation of Beijing cuisine. Shandong is the state of Qilu in ancient times, is one of the important birthplaces of Chinese culture, food civilization as early as the Spring and Autumn Warring States period has reached a high level, through the Han, Tang, Song and Yuan, under the arrest of Zhu Ming has developed into an outstanding representative of northern cuisine."
Tracing the origin of Lu cuisine, it is necessary to start from the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. After the establishment of the Zhou Dynasty, King Wu of Zhou was divided into meritorious servants and clan relatives, Jiang Taigong was enfeoffed with the first merit of destroying the Shang, and The son of the Duke of Zhou was enfeoffed with the title of Emperor Lu, and the State of Qi, under the policy of enriching the country and strengthening the army "because of its customs and simple etiquette", quickly became powerful, and by the time of the Duke of Qi Huan, it had become the first eastern power to dominate. The prosperity of the economy and the expansion of the city have brought about the prosperity of the catering industry, and Yi Ya, who is known as the originator of the chef, was born. From the "Food Classic" of the Qi people Cui Hao and Jia Sixun's "Qi Min Zhi Shu" in the Southern and Northern Dynasties period, to the dietary records of the Father and Son of Zouping People duan Wenchang and Duan Chengshi in the Tang Dynasty who wrote the "Food Classic" and "Youyang Miscellaneous Tricks", it can be seen that the Luzhong region, which has abundant ingredients, suitable climate, superior geography and other natural conditions, has perfected the practice, promotion and inheritance of food civilization, forming a distinctive and charming Qidi food culture trend.
Throughout the development history of Lu cuisine, from the existing data, almost all the written records of catering have mostly originated in Qidi, that is, from the west to the east of Taishan to the sea known as Haidai between the vast area.
In the eleventh chapter of the 2013 History of Chinese Food Culture (edited by Zhao Rongguang, Yao Weijun, Li Hanchang, and Wu Hao), Lu Chinese cuisine is described in the fourth section: "Zibo Boshan is the birthplace of Lu cuisine, known as the Luzhong faction, and its history originated in the Western Zhou Qi state. As a representative of Lu Chinese cuisine, Boshan cuisine not only has the characteristics of being salty and crisp in general Lu cuisine, but also has its own unique characteristics."
In 2016, the China Cuisine Association awarded Boshan the title of "Hometown of Chinese Lu Cuisine". In the same year, the Chinese Food Culture Research Association came to Boshan for a week of field investigation and unanimously identified Boshan as the "birthplace of Lu cuisine".
Boshan, located in the hinterland of Luzhong, is a well-known cultural shrine in Shandong, with a long history, rich accumulation, beautiful mountains, outstanding people, known for its literary students, famous craftsmen, and its diet is also quite developed.
Boshan, Jin Dynasty belongs to Zichuan County, Zizhou, Shandong East Road, was first called Yan Shendian, and its place name is derived from the story of the famous filial piety Yan Wenjiang. According to the "History of Jin" volume 25 "Geography Volume" recorded that Zichuan had three towns: "Jinling, Zhangdian, Yanshendian." "In the second year of the Yuan Dynasty (1336 AD), the town of Yanshen was set up and changed to Yidu Road yidu county.
In the Qing Dynasty, due to the excessive territory of Yidu County, many problems could not be solved in time after they appeared, so that they finally reached the point where it was difficult to return, dragging down the development of the entire society. Until the eleventh year of Yongzheng, the governor of Hedong, Wang Shijun, toured to Yanshen Town, and he accepted the suggestion of Zhao Zhixin, a squire of Boshan Township, to play to the imperial court in the first month of the twelfth year of Yongzheng, and asked him to establish a new county in Yanshen Town, Yidu County.
The imperial court accepted Wang Shijun's suggestion, and in the autumn and July of the twelfth year of Yongzheng (1734), "the official's reply: Wang Shijun, the governor of Hedong, said that Guo Fanju was attached to Yidu County, which belonged to Qingzhou Prefecture in Shandong Province, please set up a county in Yanshen Town, which belongs to the county... Looking for Yanshen Town, Xinfen County, Yuebo Mountain. ("Investigation of the Separation of Boshan County during the Yongzheng Period" Han Zhifang)
The reason why the imperial court upgraded Yanshen Town from a town to a county was because the local mineral resources were rich and developed earlier, and had developed into an industrial city in feudal society hundreds of years ago. At that time, Yan shenzhen "regarded the lower county as a double", and the tax paid by one town was more than double that of the inferior county at that time.
In the Qing Dynasty, the economy of the Boshan area developed rapidly, with furnaces everywhere, merchants gathered, and market trade became more active. According to kangxi's ninth year of the "Yan Shen Zhen Zhi", "Xiguan, the eight alleys of the street, the third and eighth big sets of the month; Xiguan, Xiye Liuli City; the east and west two gate streets, the first and sixth day of the middle market, the fourth and nine days of the small set." Beiguan Taxation Street kiln goods market. ”
Several townships under Yanshen Town are "shantou shops, kiln goods." There is a city fight. Xihe, monthly two and seven middle markets, kiln market. Eight steep, stone horse two zhuang, cast iron, there is a city bucket. And the "salt shops, nitrate shops, cloth shops, yupi shops, charcoal shops, all of which are impermanent" throughout the town. Markets are spread throughout the city and countryside, and there is a clear division of labor in the market for industrial products. The development of the economy and the formation of the industrial structure have established the urban status of Yanshen Town from the surrounding areas to the environment dominated by agricultural economy.
At that time, the Boshan people were exposed to industrial civilization earlier, and there was no overnight food at home, which brought about the prosperity of breakfast and fast food snacks. High income, and love to eat and love to do, gave birth to the "half a knife", forming a "chef more than fried scoop" cooking phenomenon. The underground work of coal and the high temperature operation of ceramics and glass have not only developed the habit of drinking tea, but also spawned a distinctive dish soup. Taverns and stalls are carefully prepared for food and drink, and local snacks and special dishes are gradually formed.
Coal has completely replaced cooking fuels such as charcoal and firewood, making Boshan have the fuel conditions to become the birthplace of Lucai. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, as far as the whole country is concerned, it is still "the village wood stove, the Beijing coal stove", most of the regional cooking still uses firewood, charcoal, grass, reeds, but Boshan in the early dynasties appeared "family charcoal fire, day and night do not extinguish" "tea with drinking can be boiled water bubbles" scene. Coal raises the temperature, changes the temperature, and the high flame required for cooking can reach more than a thousand degrees. There are as many as 32 kinds of cooking techniques for Boshan cuisine, especially "stir-frying" has reached the highest level of use of heat, which has brought revolutionary changes to the culinary world.
(Beijing City at the end of the Qing Dynasty)
At that time, there were more chefs and furnace smiths (glass craftsmen) in Boshan entering Beijing, and the villagers who lived in the capital of Boshan officials also loved food culture, which were the favorable conditions for Boshan to become the birthplace of Lu cuisine. Sun Tingquan, Zhao Zhixin and a number of other high-ranking officials of the imperial court, after appreciating the flavors of the capital and other places, returned to their hometown and will certainly give guidance and requirements to boshan diet. Sun Bao, the eldest son of Sun Tingquan, who lived in the Qing court cabinet, was appointed as the head of the Guanglu Temple, specializing in logistics such as soup and spices for the imperial meal of the Inner Court, and after returning to his hometown, he would surely pass on the various meanings of the imperial meal to the township kitchen industry. There are also glass craftsmen who come to Beijing in batches with their skills to taste the food of the capital for a long time, and they will definitely bring about changes in diet after returning to their hometowns with a lot of income.
In the process of the formation and development of Lu cuisine (Shandong cuisine), Boshan created and inherited the excellent traditional skills of Lu cuisine (Shandong cuisine). A number of famous shops, famous chefs, and famous dishes have emerged, including high-level industry practitioners, as well as a wealth of Lu cuisine (Shandong cuisine) dishes, as well as complete banquet regulations. Boshan's "four or four seats" dish regulation has lasted for a long time, and it has gradually stepped out of Boshan and become a favorite feast mode for people in Luzhong area.
Many cities inside and outside the province have opened Boshan Restaurants and operate Boshan cuisine. Yudi fish spikes, dried scallops with chicken sauce, tofu box, Boshan crispy pot, stir-fried waist flowers, spring rolls, Boshan roast pot, Boshan grilled meat, clear soup swallow vegetables, plum blossom intestine, butterfly sea cucumber, Mandarin duck chicken, cloth bag chicken, three fresh hot pot... And a number of local dishes have become typical and pure Lu cuisine.
(Boshan 44 seats)
At present, the earliest restaurants in Boshan that have been recorded in writing are Tongsheng, Weihe, Fuyuan, Yuchengguan, etc. opened in the early years of Qing Daoguang, and during the Xianfeng period of the Qing Dynasty, there was Haitongchun in Hebei, a mountain. During the Tongzhi period, there were Shuangshengju on the street, the treasurer's surname was Su, known as Sujiaguan, as well as Sun Zhaolu's Chunhe Garden in Songjia Hutong, and Zhao Yilin's YongshengGuan in Xiye Street. During the Guangxu period, there were the Gonghe Hall on Xiangshi Street, the Shijia Bun Shop on Hetan, the Quanshengyong on Taxation Street, the Huixian Building, Qingyuan Garden, and Baijiaguan in Baqiu. During the Republic of China period, the more famous restaurants also included the Tongxinju opened by Li Tongxin on the mountain, the Jingshan Village opened by Shi Guanying in Dongguan, the Yixiang Village opened by Cui Yuantao in Diedao Street, the Yipinju opened by Ma Qingxiang in Walnut Garden, and the Jule Village opened by Luan Yuzhuo in Xiye Street. There are also 21 other Lijia Bun Shop, Yixinju, Baihua Village and so on. The long-term study and study of diet has enabled Boshan to have both family-style special snacks, dishes, and noodles, as well as a court-like banquet pattern.
At least in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, in the "Miscellaneous Records of Yanshan" written by Sun Tingquan in the third year of the Qing Kangxi Dynasty (1664), there are records of ceramics and food in the Boshan area, and later there are a large number of works, stone carvings, stories, legends, Yanglian, miscellaneous characters, folk songs, and afterwords in various forms that record the food of the Boshan (Zibo) area.
(Boshan furnace worker)
The Miscellaneous Records of Yanshan is the earliest local chronicle of Boshan, compiled by Sun Tingquan and written by Kangxi III (1664), in 47 volumes. The geographical evolution, political district settings, armed armaments and defenses, property and land endowments, and folk customs and customs of Fanfan town have been recorded in more detail, and have become the most important historical materials for studying and understanding the history of Boshan. There is no shortage of records of diet in the "Miscellaneous Records of Yan Shan". In the "Porcelain Chapter", it is written: "The way of the saints begins with diet, and the great desire of the world is also eaten." Then the food and drinking utensils, the world's great use also. Quoting the view that "the people take food as the sky", he pointed out the importance of porcelain in the diet, and at the same time, the production of Boshan porcelain has a detailed record of the promotion of diet.
Zhao Zhixin's complete collection "Weighing Etiquette and Customs" is selected from the July edition of the Qianlong Jia WuNian (1764) edition of the Collected Works of Raoshan. The Twelve-Volume Trade-off of Etiquette and Customs is the author's criticism and improvement of the feudal customs of marriage and funeral in his hometown. Among them, the "Etiquette" section talks about the old ritual customs of "congratulatory feasts", "banquets", "ceremonial banquets", "sacrifices", etc., which are recorded and commented, reflecting the author's observation and understanding of the food culture of Boshan at that time and the progressive concept of stereotypes and bad habits and red tape calling for innovation.
Song Xinzhong, the author of "Mountain Head Miscellaneous Characters", during the Qing Dynasty, the people of Xizhuang on the top of the Boshan Mountains, the miscellaneous characters will show the food, ceramics, and humanities in the (Boshan) Shantou area to the fullest. The preface to "Miscellaneous Characters on the Mountain" is 144 words, which clarifies the author's intention to write. The sixteen chapters of the main text are 48519 words, which systematically record the contents of local kiln farms, mountain farms (that is, coal farms), groceries, food shops, grain, cloth, carpenters, stonemasons, plasterers, silversmiths, butchers, utensils, animals, diseases, personnel, etc., with detailed descriptions, simple and unpretentious texts, easy to understand, close to spoken language, and catchy to read. This book was widely copied and memorized by later generations and became a literacy textbook for local school children.
In addition, the "Collection of Taoist Inscriptions in Shandong" (Boshan Volume, 2013, published by Qilu Publishing House, edited by Zhao Weidong, Wang Yuxian, Qin Guoshuai, etc.) Among the inscriptions of the Jade Palace and Taishan Palace in the suburbs of Boshan, there is information on the earliest restaurants in Boshan City, such as "Tongsheng Hotel, Weihe, Fuyuan Hotel, Yucheng Hall", which was built from the eighth year of Daoguang (1828) to the twelfth year of Daoguang (1832).
According to the "History of Jin" volume 25 "Geography Volume" recorded that Zichuan had three towns: "Jinling, Zhangdian, Yanshendian." "In the second year of the Yuan Dynasty (1336 AD), the town of Yanshen was set up and changed to Yidu Road yidu county. At that time, Boshan was once under the rule of Zichuan, and it is not surprising that the king of the world's short stories, Mr. Pu Songling, has a large number of written records of diet.
Mr. Pu Songling used more than a thousand words in his miscellaneous book "Daily Customs" that was originally used to enlighten Mengtong, and recorded more than 100 kinds of dishes, which became an important historical material for studying the food of Shandong in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties.
The book was written in 1706 (the forty-fifth year of the Qing Kangxi Dynasty), more than 270 years ago. "Daily Vulgar Characters" is one of the many popular miscellaneous character books, compared with other kinds of miscellaneous character books, the number of words received in "Daily Vulgar Characters" should be the most known one. This book has a total of 31 categories, which preserves the dialect reading, common characters, and custom materials in the Zichuan region during the Kangxi Dynasty, and is a miniature version of the local history and a record of the people's feelings.
In the "Diet Chapter", Pu Songling recorded nearly forty kinds of food characteristics and the main points of their production, although it was written that "the hump bear paw is called good taste, and the monkey's head bird's nest is waiting for your officials", but the rest of what is written is the daily life diet of ordinary people, and most of them are also commonly eaten today. The book points out the importance of eating and cooking the five flavors thoroughly. Then there is the cooking technique, there are "swollen shoulders (i.e., elbows) rotten and added vinegar sauce, head and hoof brush brush to cook." This is an insight into making "pot roasted elbows" and "braised head hooves". "Ginger with belly pepper plus lungs, cut the white intestine vertically into the liver." He also made fat armpit kisses (suddenly) into pieces, and also chopped the lean meat into balls. The skin is freshly cut and skimmed, and the meat must be burned (read dry) and melted (read) rotten. Clean water washes the dirty belly of the fish, and the juice soup is boiled thick tortoise skirt. "It's about knife work and material selection. He also recorded with great interest the scene when the cook stole the ingredients from the main house: "The cook's rag should be all large, cut off the meat pieces and squeeze the waist of the (upper hand)".
In terms of pasta making, the Diet Chapter is described in more detail. From grinding wheat to taking flour to making steamed buns, oil rolls, roasted wheat, flat food, clam chromium and other varieties are all written. It also mentions roasted wheat, buns, dumplings, sugar shortbreads, preserved plum fruits, Jinhua ham, and Gaoyou egg (egg change, in the Zibo dialect, is a pine blossom egg).
Pu Songling, the world-famous literary master, is far above the writers on the rich list, both in fame and achievement. However, his life treatment is very different from those of rich writers. Most of the information recorded comes from the tea stalls next to Liuquan, and in the small talk of passers-by from the south to the north, these passers-by are naturally indispensable to the gentry celebrities and peddlers and pawns of Yanshen Town. It is not difficult to know from this that the Town of Yanshen, which is "worthy of the lower yi", is the grand scene of the prosperity of the catering industry.
The formation and development of Boshan cuisine benefits from the superior geographical environment and excellent traditional culture of Qilu
The unique flavor of Boshan cuisine and the eating habits of Boshan people come from the development of the urban economy and the special needs of the huge practitioners in the "kiln (coal), pottery (porcelain), and Liu (glass)" industry.
The first years of development of the zibo coalfields, Germany and Japan, which plundered the Zibo coalfields, have a brief account of this. In the 1860s and 1870s, the German Richthofen recorded in his "Diary of Travels in China" that the coalfield of Boshan had been mined for centuries.
(Local photo taken during the Japanese occupation of Hiroyama)
The Japanese are more explicit. When the European War broke out in 1914 and Japan sent troops to occupy Shandong, the Japanese garrison in Qingdao and the Mantetsu Investigation Department had sent agents to Zibo to conduct frequent and wide-ranging aurora surveys. In the investigation report compiled by the Qingdao Garrison Shandong Railway Department, Asada Kameyoshi said: "The Zibo coalfield, especially the Boshan coalfield, has been mined since the Tang Dynasty, and the reason why the coalfields in this area were mined earlier is inseparable from the development of its cultivation. He also pointed out that "villages such as Shantou, Badao, Weitouhe, and Fushan Village (Pot Bowl) were not only pottery centers at that time, but also the most suitable areas for soil coal mining." ”
The Zibo Mining Bureau has conducted a general survey of the ancient wells in the mining areas to which it belongs, and the data also records that the Zibo coalfield has been mined since the Tang Dynasty. The ruins of the ancient wells of the Tang Dynasty are located in the northeast of present-day Boshan City, "Zhou Tian Erdi Zou Ma Ling". The so-called "Zhoutian Erdi Zoumaling" refers to the three places of Zhoujiadi, Tianjiadi and Zomaling.
In the Yuan Dynasty, the mining of the Zibo coalfield was documented. However, in the Yuan Dynasty, feudal rulers strictly forbade mining, allowing only the government to excavate, not allowing private mining. In the Ming Dynasty, mining was once banned, and the government took the measure of extracting minerals in various mining and smelting areas, allowing the people to mine themselves, but it did not take long to implement it, and it was banned, and it was not until the twenty-fourth year of the Ming Dynasty (1596) that the mining and smelting all over the country was opened, and the government sent people to collect taxes and profit from it.
At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the People's Republic, China successively established 12 large-scale modern coal mines, and Boshan accounted for 3. There are more than 50 private coal mines, nearly 10,000 miners, and coal production accounts for more than 35% of Shandong Province's 1.65 million tons. At its peak, there were more than 200 ceramic kiln households, with a total output of more than 1.459 million pieces, and the total output value accounted for more than 65% of Shandong Province. There are more than 100 glass furnace workshops and more than 4,000 furnace workers. Especially after the opening of the Zhangbo Branch Line of Jiaoji Railway in 1903, Boshan accepted modern industrial civilization earlier, and in addition to the three major industries, other catering services were opened in large quantities, merchants gathered, the market prospered, and the rapid expansion and development of Boshan's commercial urban economy was promoted. The prosperity of Boshan catering industry is also due to the composition of urban residents and the prosperity of the local economy.
During the Qing Dynasty, how much did a coal miner earn? According to the German Richthofen's "Diary of a Traveler in China": "At that time (eight years of Tongzhi, 1897) ... The price of Boshan coal is 500 yuan per basket (this is 300 pounds per large basket), which is 1.7 yuan per kilogram. The labor capacity of the miners, based on the average output of the above-mentioned wells, is 0.25 tons (the discount price of coal is 850 yuan). The actual wages of the miners, calculated by the highest amount of the Zhangchupu set, are only 150 yuan a day." So, what could a penny buy at the time? It is recorded in the "Qing History Manuscript and Food Goods Chronicle" that in the early Qing Dynasty, ten yuan could buy a pound of rice. According to the "Historical Materials of China's Modern Handicraft Industry" published by the Zhonghua Bookstore, "At the sauce garden shop during the Kangxi Dynasty, you can buy one bowl of soy sauce, vinegar, oil and wine, which is called 'four bowls and one article.'" Correspondingly, the price of rice in the Kangxi era, at the lowest time, two yuan can buy a liter. One liter of rice, one pound and a half. Enough to raise the stove and raise the fire.
The income of these coal miners of 150 yuan was considered to be "high salary" at that time, so the workers always had to treat themselves with wine and meat after a hard and dangerous day's labor, while restaurants and hotel owners threw themselves into their favor and constantly introduced various gourmet dishes, because they had the ability to consume, high-end feasts such as sea cucumber mats and shark fin mats came into being, and the "Boshan Four-Four Seats" with exquisite regulations and heavy rituals was also born. At the same time, it has also led to the development of folk snacks, and a variety of different grades of meals are made with relish.
(Boshan in 1903, colored for AI)
At the same time, with the development of commercial circulation, the increase in exchanges between the south and the north, and the communication between various groups of people have stimulated the vigorous development of Boshan catering industry and flavor snacks from all aspects. The prosperity of industry and commerce has gradually increased the number of peasants who have lost some land to work in the city, prompting the expansion of the urban population of industrial workers and handicraft craftsmen as the main body, accompanied by the industrial and commercial citizen culture that is very different from the farming culture, the self-improvement of citizens' needs and urban functions, and has also become the driving force for the prosperity of Boshan food culture and the innovative development of Boshan cuisine.
At the same time, Boshan coal resources are abundant, almost every household coal stove day and night, stir-frying small dishes, hot water tea at any time, so many local residents amateur kitchen, known as Boshan man "half a knife", in the famous door or hereditary professional experts in the family, exchanges, learn from each other's strengths, but also good at their own strengths, each has its own unique skills, every family has a good dish, prompting Bocheng inside and outside to pay attention to diet, cooking and drinking, the timely set menu and flavor snacks are constantly updated and listed, jointly promoting the formation and development of Boshan cuisine.
(Boshan in 1929)
The local and foreign traditional culture has created the uniqueness and representativeness of Boshan cuisine, and constantly enriched and developed the connotation of Boshan food culture. In addition to the influence of local traditional culture and the factors inherited from the past, the biggest influence on modern Boshan food culture is the Capital City and royal cuisine. From the ming jiajing period to the abolition of the imperial examination system at the end of the Qing Dynasty, there were 39 jinshi and 75 famous people in Boshan. There are also people in the center of the entry. There were 6 officials to Shangshu, one of whom had served as a household, a soldier, and a bureaucrat, and was a scholar of the Inner Secretariat Academy in the early years of the Kangxi Dynasty. There is also the 6th place in the 18-year-old Zhongjingcheng Huihui Examination, the second-class jinshi of the temple examination, edited by the Hanlin Academy, and the famous realist poet of the Qing Dynasty who is famous for his poetry in Beijing. They are well-known in Kyoto's high society and have the opportunity to walk the royal family. In particular, Sun Bao, the eldest son of Sun Tingquan, was appointed by the Qing Dynasty after resigning from the government as the head of the Guanglu Temple. Guanglu Temple was the institution in charge of royal meals, banquets and entertaining guests during the Ming and Qing dynasties. After years of hearing about the institutions related to the royal diet, Sun Bao and his fathers still bring back to their hometown the food culture of Beijing, which integrates the treasures and seafood of the mountains and seas from all over the world. For example, the Tea Soup made by boiling water and milled with millet noodles during the Spring Festival of the Boshan people is itself a famous snack of Guanglu Temple, which is generally not available in the local area, and Sun Bao still brings this production technique back to his hometown and spreads it, becoming a local custom.
(Hakusannai)
In the Qing Dynasty, in the courtyard of the Imperial Palace in the capital, there was also a group of Boshan furnace craftsmen engaged in glass production, and in the early Qing Dynasty, the Forbidden City Yangxin Hall set up a glass factory, and the craftsmen and craftsmen of the factory grew out of foreigners to fill in, and later gradually replaced by Boshan glass craftsmen, up to more than fifty people. For many years, various snuff bottles, latrine or monochromatic ornaments and ornaments were made for the royal family. These "imperial craftsmen" workers live in the courtyard of the imperial palace, inevitably contact and exchange with the people involved in the imperial dining room, and the "tooth festival" and "opening foreign meat" after the exchange are also natural things, thus broadening their horizons and understanding many tastes outside their hometowns, and these skills have greatly enriched the local food connotation of Boshan after returning to their hometowns.
In addition, with the economic development of Boshan Town, the circulation of commerce and trade has become more and more extensive, with merchants gathering, cars and horses, and personnel logistics coming from south to north, which also promotes the development of the catering service industry and the consumer demand for various special tastes. Some large shops with deep pockets go to the tavern when they receive visitors, and the rest of the small hospitality is self-catering. The material and goods factories that sell glass have traveled all over the country, bringing the boshan special tastes of local restaurants and taverns to all directions, and also learning the customs and cooking skills of other places, complementing each other and becoming a major feature of inclusive Boshan cuisine. At most, there were more than 100 Boshan material warehouses, and until the founding of the People's Republic of China, there were more than 30 public-private partnership fashions. These warehouses are distributed in Beijing, Tianjin, Harbin, Shenyang, Changchun, Shijiazhuang, Xi'an, Shanghai, Nanjing and Hankou. The influence of Boshan cuisine can be seen.
Unfortunately, we have ignored these precious historical materials and failed to conduct meticulous research, so that the study of Boshan food culture has always hovered behind the Republic of China, no wonder when experts make the assertion that "Boshan is the birthplace of Lu cuisine", it has aroused the doubts of scholars everywhere. (To be continued)
Text/Shi Hongwei