As a junior fellow student of Mr. Fu Shan, I also had a head start in the Qing and Yuan Dynasties in Taiyuan.

Taiyuan's brain is different from those elsewhere. It has been improved by Mr. Fu Shan and incorporated with many medicinal foods, making it a good tonic.

Moreover, my husband was determined to fight against the Qing Dynasty and restore the Ming Dynasty, so he named the brain shop Qing and Yuan, intending to eat the brains of the Qing and Yuan Dynasties.

His naughty and playful temperament reveals his firmness and determination, which is admirable.

Mr. Yan Runhong, a famous doctor in Shanxi, has an article specifically about Fu Shan and the mind. I have excerpted it here to share with you.

Stories from Famous Doctors｜Fu Shan and “Brain” Yan Runhong What is “brain”?

It may be difficult for ordinary people to associate it with food, but they do not know that it is indeed a local "famous food" and a special "medicinal diet" invented by Fu Shan, a celebrity from Shanxi in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties.

Fu Shan (1607-1684), courtesy name Qingzhu, was born in Yangqu (now Taiyuan City), Shanxi.

Fu Shan was born into a scholarly family. His grandfather was a Jinshi scholar and his father was a Gongsheng student.

He was well-read since he was a child and was extremely intelligent. He became a scholar at the age of 14 and was deeply valued and appreciated by Wen Taiqing, Yuan Jixian and others, the inspectors of Shanxi Province at that time.

After the Jiashen Incident (1644), because of his strong Confucian orthodox thoughts, he believed that the Manchus' control of the Central Plains would "subjugate the country and the world", so he became a Taoist monk and called himself "Taoist Zhu Yi". He used medical practice and preaching as a cover, and secretly

He was engaged in anti-Qing activities. After the failure of the anti-Qing Dynasty, he insisted on not cooperating with the Qing court, maintained national integrity, lived in seclusion in the countryside, discussed calligraphy and painting, talked about knowledge, applied medicine, and achieved great academic achievements.

His friends once commented that "writing is not as good as poetry, poetry is not as good as painting, painting is not as good as medicine, and medicine is not as good as people." This evaluation depicts Fu Shan from one side as having both political integrity and talent, as well as medicine and Confucianism.

Research on "Brain" "Brain" as a food name is not the first of its kind by Fu Shan. According to research, it began around the end of the 14th century (late Yuan Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty). Chapter 51 of "Water Margin" contains the words "catch a bowl of brain", which shows that that period

There were already restaurants selling "brains". It was unknown what materials the "brains" were made from and how they were made.

As a food, "brain" is not just a traditional famous food in Taiyuan. There is a famous food in Shanghai also called "brain", which is completely different from Taiyuan's "brain" in terms of raw materials and methods.

But no matter what, when talking about "brain", people always think of Taiyuan's famous food and Mr. Fu Shan. This is because Taiyuan's "brain" was invented by Fu Shan. Taiyuan's "brain" has the most health value and the richest cultural heritage.

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It is said that after Fu Shan lost his wife in middle age, he never married and served at his mother's side.

His mother is old and frail, and has been bedridden for a long time.

In order to keep his mother healthy and long-lived, Fu Shan developed the "Bazhen Soup", which is made of eight kinds of medicinal materials and food: fat mutton, lotus root, yam, astragalus, galangal, simmered noodles, rice wine, and distiller's grains, as a soup for the elderly to eat in winter.

Take your supplements early in the morning.

After a winter of careful treatment, his mother's illnesses were gone and she was full of energy. From then on, the name of "Bazhen Decoction" spread like wildfire, and people called it "a famous doctor's filial piety medicine" and came to ask for this recipe one after another.

At that time, the Qing troops entered the Central Plains, and Fu Shan was determined to fight against the Qing Dynasty and restore the Ming Dynasty, so he changed the name of "Bazhen Tang" to "brain", which means that to fight against the Qing Dynasty and restore the Ming Dynasty, he needed to use his brain.

At that time, an immigrant from Gansu Province with the surname Ga opened a restaurant specializing in haggis in Nanchang Lane, Taiyuan. The business was slow, so Fu Shan, with the desire to help the world and alleviate poverty, taught him the "brainy" preparation method.

He also personally wrote a plaque for the restaurant and named it "Qingheyuan".

Whenever he met patients who were physically weak and needed nourishment, Fu Shan would let them eat the "brain" of "Qingheyuan". After Fu Shan widely publicized the remarkable health-preserving effects of "brain", Taiyuan's "Qingheyuan" three hundred years ago

"The restaurant is very lively and full of people.

It should be noted that the "Qingheyuan" restaurant was located on the west side of the middle section of Nanchang Lane in Taiyuan City. It was moved to Qiaotou Street in Taiyuan City during the Republic of China.

Fu Shan's invention of "mind" was only passed down orally by the common people and was not recorded in books. This was because in the Qing Dynasty, which frequently had literary inquisitions, no one was willing to put Fu Shan's profound and tortuous struggle against the Qing Dynasty and restoration of the Ming Dynasty on paper and pen.

Judging from the formula of "Mind", it is a tonic and has a profound principle of drug compatibility and a specific dosage. This can also prove that it was invented by Fu Shan.

The formula and precautions for taking "Brain". The preparation method of "Brain" is as follows: using mutton, yam, and lotus root as raw materials, first cut the mutton into cubes, put it into a pot and bring it to a boil over high heat, then add pepper, astragalus, and galangal.

, cook over low heat and take out, put the distiller's grain juice into a pot and boil, add cooking wine, simmer the noodles, and cook into a batter soup, then put the mutton cubes, cooked yam, and lotus root into a bowl, add diced sheep tail oil, and pour it on

The batter soup is ready.

When you taste it, you can feel the mixed aroma of medicine, wine and mutton. The flavor is unique and the more you eat, the more you want to eat.

When eating "brain", it is usually served with pickled leeks and "hat box". Pickled leeks are like an introduction to taking medicine. "Hat box" is a kind of baked dough cake, short cylindrical shape with an empty middle.

The fermented flour shells are put together and baked in the oven. When drinking "brain", break the "hat box" into small pieces and soak it in the "brain" soup. It is fragrant, chewy and has a unique flavor.

In the Qing Dynasty, there were several restaurants in Yuci, Shanxi that operated "brains", among which "Qingshengyuan" "brains" was the most famous. Its characteristic was that the mutton was the best fat goat meat, instead of sheep meat.

A bowl of "brain" usually consists of four pieces of fat goat meat, two pieces of long yam, two pieces of lotus root, tasteless white soup, and you can add your own seasoning.