Beijing Eight Pieces, also known as Big Eight Pieces, are eight kinds of Beijing-style cakes with different shapes and tastes. They are court cakes in Ming and Qing Dynasties and later spread to the people. They are made of eight raw materials, such as jujube paste, plum, raisins, roses, bean paste, sugar, bananas and salt and pepper, with lard, water and flour as skins, leather bags as fillings and baking. In fact, the cakes produced by Beijing Imperial Restaurant are almost all folk imitations in terms of source. Before Ming Muzong ascended the throne, he often sent people to East Chang 'an Avenue to buy snacks. After he became emperor, he was still obsessed with the delicious food on the street. The dessert house knew the emperor's mind, so it went undercover in those pastry shops, stole the production methods, and spent a lot of money to purchase raw materials and copied some. The emperor can taste the source of each kind professionally, and proudly tell the chefs that these high-priced snacks can be bought for 5 pence in the street.

The origin and evolution of the Eight Pieces of Beijing has also gone through a long process. The Eight Pieces of Beijing were first created for the imperial kitchens of the Qing court, and then spread to the people. In the Yuan Dynasty, Mongolians brought grassland-flavor cakes made of beef and sheep oil and milk to Beijing. Later, the capital of the Ming Dynasty moved from Nanjing to Beijing, and Jiangnan dim sum naturally flowed into the capital. After the establishment of the Qing Dynasty, Manchu cakes such as Saqima were introduced. Different flavors, different varieties and different preparation methods have influenced each other and run in for hundreds of years, thus forming a unique "Beijing-style dim sum".

In the Qing Dynasty, it also became the sacrificial food for the royal family and the royal family, and it was also an indispensable gift and exhibit for weddings, funerals and daily life. After flowing into the people, "Beijing Eight Pieces" also evolved into many versions with the times. In short, Beijing Eight Pieces represent happiness, wealth, longevity, happiness, wealth, literature, etc. They are the eight favorite foods in life, and they are embodied in a graceful and vivid way.

Qianmen Meishi Street is a commercial street with dense tourists in Beijing, and there are shops with "Daoxiang Village" signs hanging along the street.

Walking into it, the narrow space is full of colorful "old Beijing specialties", and there are seven or eight kinds of Taoxiang Village gift boxes "Beijing Eight Pieces" on the shelves near the wall, with prices ranging from 25 yuan to 188 yuan.

Some are filled with purple potato cakes, almond cakes, chestnut cakes and mung bean cakes; Some are filled with Daoxiang Tongbao, Chrysanthemum Cake, Mung Bean Crisp, Hawthorn Guokui, Black Sesame Pepper Cake and Jujube Crisp; Some are filled with hawthorn pot helmets, jujube cakes, pumpkin cakes and pineapple cake? Different packaging means different styles.

When asked why they are all called "Beijing Eight Pieces" pastry gift boxes, the staff in the store told Xiaoxian that "the types, weights and packaging of each brand are different".

The "Eight Pieces of Beijing" in Peiping period can be divided into big eight pieces and small eight pieces. The big eight pieces are blessed, rich, longevity, wedding cakes, and oil cakes, Polygonum hydropiper, big natural red, natural white; The small eight pieces include chicken oil cake, roll cake, mung bean cake and trough cake. However, it is difficult for people to adjust, and diners have different opinions on "Beijing Eight Pieces".

After the founding of New China, public-private partnership, some veteran artists in Beijing were forced to change careers, and the "national treasure" of the national treasure shop dropped several levels.

Mr Wang Shixiang was deeply touched: "Chinese cakes in Beijing have gone from bad to worse since the 1960s. At first, it was dry but not crisp, and later it developed to be hard, and almost all of them were sold in the east, west, north and south, which seemed to be made by one hand. "

Mr. Hou Baolin has a cross talk to prove this point.

The car pressed the peach cake into the asphalt road and pried it with a stick. Instead of prying it, the stick broke. Finally, a shop assistant came and pried the peach cake out with the glutinous rice strips in his shop. Since then, snacks such as "Beijing Eight Pieces" have gradually faded out of the market.