The history of China people eating crabs can be traced back to the Western Zhou Dynasty. According to the records of Zhou Li and Linzi in Jin Dynasty, China has been eating crabs for 27,800 years. Since ancient times, eating crabs seems to be an elegant thing. As early as the Ming Dynasty, skillful craftsmen created a set of exquisite crab eating tools. According to the Records of Textual Research on Food in Ming Dynasty, there were eight kinds of tools for eating crabs in Ming Dynasty, namely, hammer, upsetting, pliers, shovel, spoon, fork, scraper and needle, which translated into modern Chinese are waist hammer, small square table, tweezers, long-handled axe, spoon, long-handled fork, scraper and needle. So it's called "Eight Crabs". Later, from the Ming Dynasty to the early years of the Republic of China, it developed into three crabs (tripod, stick and hammer), four, six, eight, ten and twelve. After that, it reached its peak, with as many as 64 crab eating tools (food). These tools for eating crabs are generally made of copper, and elegant ones are made of silver. Because in terms of toughness, although gold is precious, it is not as hard as silver, and copper is easy to pollute food, so it stands to reason that the best "crab eight pieces" should also be made of silver. Its craftsmanship is extremely exquisite. The scraper is a bit like a sword, and the spoon is a bit like a water bowl in the study. Crab meat with three-legged knight. These tools for eating crabs are all equipped with round or lotus leaf-shaped plates with three feet carved under them.
The eight pieces of crab include a small square table, a waist hammer, a long-handled axe, a long-handled fork, round-headed scissors, tweezers, a drill and a spoon, and have various functions such as padding, knocking, chopping, cutting, clamping, picking and holding. And beautiful in appearance, shiny, exquisite and easy to use. When crabs are cooked and served on the table, they are steaming. Crab eaters put crabs on a small square table, cut off two big claws and eight crab feet one by one with round-headed scissors, gently tap around the crab shell with a waist hammer, then split the back shell and navel with a long-handled axe, and then pick or clamp or fork or tap with a brazing wire, tweezers, fork and hammer to take out golden yellow or milky white sticky crab paste. Eating crab shells with a small spoon is really a fairy-like happiness with endless aftertaste. Thanks to these eight crabs, Suzhou people ate Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs cleanly.
Later, eight crabs in the late Qing Dynasty became the dowry of Suzhou women. Legend has it that in Lumen, Suzhou, a wealthy businessman married a woman, with a dowry of as much as 120 yuan, including gold and silver jewelry, bedding pillows, tables and chairs, cabinets, bowls, chopsticks, spoons, pots and all kinds of forests. The custom here is that the day before makeup, all dowries should be decorated one by one and put on the street in turn for inspection, which is exactly what wealthy businessmen want to show off. The day was very lively, and people who saw the dowry flocked to it. Amid all the praise, a craftsman criticized the rich businessman. He said, "There are ninety-nine dowries, plus one' eight crabs' and everything will be fine." The rich businessman is a fan of eating crabs. After hearing this, he told the craftsman to make "eight golden crabs" overnight without saying anything. The next day, on a festive day, this stereotyped crab with the words "the apprentice" was watched by the man's family, causing a sensation. This matter spread widely, so during the Republic of China, this stereotyped crab became one of the dowries of many Suzhou women.
After the ancients invented crab eating tools, eating crabs became an elegant and unique food enjoyment. Eating crabs with exquisite gold, silver and copper tableware is fun, which can be said to be an elegant cultural catering activity. In Ming and Qing Dynasties, literati held crab banquets not only to satisfy their cravings with meat, but also to enjoy crabs, drink wine, enjoy chrysanthemums and recite poems, which was an affair in the autumn. This pleasure of eating crabs is vividly described by Cao Xueqin, the author of A Dream of Red Mansions, which is memorable and unforgettable.
After 1950s, this set of objects gradually disappeared from the tables of hotels and crab farms in Suzhou, Shanghai and Hangzhou. Eight crabs appeared for a while a few years ago, but after all, these tinkling tableware is no longer suitable for modern people's habits. It is said that it takes at least half an hour to disassemble a crab with "eight crabs". Who can afford this time now? At that time, it was only a symbol of artistry, but it was certainly only popular in the upper class, and the people would not invest too much energy. Today's China society is somewhat similar to that of the Ming Dynasty. There are many people who are arty, and "eight crabs" may become a fashion in the near future.