Mudu is located in the west of Suzhou, on the bank of Taihu Lake. It is an ancient water town with a history of 2,5 years, the same age as Suzhou City.
at the end of the spring and autumn period, wuyue was fighting for hegemony, and the state of Yue was defeated. Gou Jian, the king of Yue, used a honey trap to present a beauty from Zhuji to Fu Cha, the king of Wu. In order to please Xi Shi, Fu Cha built Guanwa Palace on the top of Lingyan Mountain and built Gusutai. "It takes three years to gather materials, but it takes five years to become a success". During these three to five years, timber was transported along the river, which even blocked the river port at the foot of the mountain, and the village at the foot of the mountain was named "Mudu" over time.
Fu Cha revolves around beauties every day, building a great project, singing and dancing, while Gou Jian is practicing his military forces in the dark. "It's never too late for a gentleman to take revenge." By the time Gou Jian, who was eating and drinking, attacked Wu, Wu was unable to resist. Guanwa Palace was completely destroyed by a fire by soldiers who took revenge from the state of Yue. Xi Shi's whereabouts were unknown, but he was named in the history of Mudu at the foot of the mountain.
In the Three Kingdoms period, Mudu was an important town in Soochow. In the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Sikonglu built a house in the former site of Guanwa Palace, and in his later years, he built his house as a temple, making Mudu a Buddhist resort. After the Ming Dynasty, Mudu became the most lively commercial port in Wuzhong because it was the gateway to Taihu Lake. Xu Yang, a court painter in the Qing Dynasty, painted a picture of life in Ganlong Gusu, and in this 12-meter long scroll, Mudu accounted for half of the prosperity. As can be seen from this scroll like The Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival, there are groceries from Hangzhou people, official salt from Yangzhou people, silks and satins from Suzhou people, native products from Dongting people, and private gardens of literati and scholars in Mudu ancient town in the heyday of Qing Dynasty. These rows of shops, elegant gardens, quaint stone bridges and unique scenery can now be carefully searched from the ancient town.
In those days, Kangxi made three southern expeditions and made six trips to the south of the Yangtze River. It was not without reason that he was partial to Mudu every time.
Hongyin Mountain House
In the spring of the 16th year of Qianlong's reign, Qianlong made his first southern tour. The dragon boat crossed the canal, folded into Xiangxi, which was famous for its fragrance after Xi Shi's bath, and moored in the river port of Mudu. Hongyin Mountain House first caught the emperor's eye.
during the Qing dynasty, Hongyin Mountain House was already a famous garden in the south of the Yangtze River. It was connected by Xiuye Garden and Xiaoyin Garden in the Ming Dynasty. The space was spacious, with the elegance of the literati gardens in the south of the Yangtze River and the atmosphere of the royal gardens in the north. "The beauty of the hills and the beauty of the flowers and trees in the pool pavilion" was far superior to other gardens. Qianlong fell in love with it at once, and after five trips to the south of the Yangtze River, Hongyin Mountain House was a must-visit.
Qianlong's palace is located in the former site of the Wagong Palace in Lingyan Mountain Pavilion, and Hongyin Mountain Room is the place to settle the courtiers. The famous Liu Yong stayed in Hongyin Mountain Room twice and sang with his master Xu Shiyuan.
Xu Shiyuan is a scholar who came last. He doesn't seek fame, but loves reading and is very filial to his parents. He specially built a stage in the garden, and invited the troupe to sing at home on holidays. Emperor Qianlong visited the rainbow and drank the mountain house, and he also went to the theatre specially. Folklore, once seen to rise, this Qing emperor, who likes to dance with words and ink, went on stage to dance with swords to entertain.
There is a dragon chair in the flower room of Hongyinshan Room, in which nine golden dragons hover. It is made of Millennium rosewood. It is said that it was the exclusive seat of Kangxi when he visited Lingyanshan Palace in southern China. Royal things, it is natural to use exquisite materials. When Qianlong visited Mudu, he also had a preference for this chair. In order to watch the play, he specially moved to Hongyin Mountain House. This is a great honor for the Xu family. However, Xu Shiyuan was so fearful that he had to thank the son of heaven for his favor and was afraid of being dragged down by improper custody. Later, he simply locked it in the drawing room and sent four servants to guard it day and night.
people are tired of things, which I'm afraid Qianlong didn't expect. Just like the imperial edict of Mudu in these private gardens, almost every household has it, which is also a family honor. However, if it is not properly kept, it will be eaten by the squid and it will be incomplete. If it is light, it will be fined for six months, and if it is heavy, it will be taken off. If the family is unlucky, the black sheep is born and the pawn is stolen, then it will be put into the prison of the punishments, and it will be run.
The emperor's favor is actually a double-edged sword, which is what the folks call "being with a gentleman is like being with a tiger". It can be ostentatious, but it can also be hurt at any time. Such examples are common in history.
Emperor Qianlong of Qing Dynasty (that is, Emperor Gaozong Hongli) reigned for sixty years, not only six times in Qianlong 16th year (1751), Qianlong 22nd year (1757), Qianlong 26th year (1762), Qianlong 3th year (1765), Qianlong 45th year (178) and Qianlong 49th year (1784). He said in the book "The Southern Tour of Imperial System": "If you have been in imperial service for 5 years, you will have two major events, one is the Western Division, and the other is the Southern Tour." Why did the emperor Qianlong go back to the south and north in such a hurry, and went to Jiangnan six times in a row? Some say that Emperor Qianlong "envied the south of the Yangtze River and took advantage of it to travel south", some say that he "found out the truth about his birth" and some say that he "hoped to solve social problems in his southern tour". So far, there are different opinions and opinions.
The latest statement is the "Huizhou Cuisine Theory" that we introduced here, that is, Emperor Qianlong's many trips to the south of the Yangtze River after his visit to the south of the Yangtze River were really for visiting Yangzhou and other places again, and then enjoying the feast and delicacies such as Huizhou Cuisine provided by Jiang Chun. The Jiangnan delicacies such as "Huizhou Cuisine" on the "Jiang Chun Huizhou Cuisine Reception Banquet" are not only unheard of in his life, but also unheard of or seen even after listening, so his curiosity is greatly satisfied, and he can't forget it. After returning to Beijing, I recalled and relished the Anhui cuisine of Jiang Chun, a rich man in the south of the Yangtze River, and tried several times to make the chef cook it, but it was always difficult to do so, and I could never make that taste. Therefore, we have to go to the south of the Yangtze River again and again and see Jiang Chun again, so that we can taste the taste and get rid of the craving. As the saying goes, "Food is the most important thing for the people" and "eating" is the biggest thing in the world.
At the same time, another purpose of Emperor Qianlong's six trips to the south of the Yangtze River is to bring his royal chef team with him again and again, so as to learn the cooking skills of Jiang Chun's reception banquet, and to purchase relevant Anhui cuisine materials and bring them back to the palace for trial. However, it didn't work, so we had to let them accompany and learn again and again until they were completely disappointed.
among the above statements, only the "delicious temptation" in this statement is the strongest reason why Emperor Qianlong visited Jiangnan six times. The other statements can only be explained as the reason for "going to the south of the Yangtze River", but they cannot be the reason why he went to the south of the Yangtze River six times in a row.
Therefore, we can even make the hypothesis that "Jiang Chun's Huizhou cuisine takes over the banquet" has made great contributions to the health and longevity of the emperor Qianlong, who finally lived to the age of 89 and has the longest life span among more than 2 emperors in China history.
Jiang Chun (172 ─ 1789) was born in Jiangcun Village, Shexian County, Anhui Province. In the Qing Dynasty, the famous Huizhou merchants who lived in Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province, were the richest in salt industry, ranking first among the "Eight General Merchants of Huai River and Huai River" in the Qianlong period of Qing Dynasty. Because of its miracle of "building a white tower with salt overnight, Anhui cuisine will take over the driving of Emperor Qianlong", it is known as "the most cattle Huizhou merchant in the world" who "makes friends with the son of heaven with cloth clothes". According to the Record of Yangzhou Original Boat, Jiang Chun served as the chief merchant for forty years, and Meng Qianlong successively awarded the titles of "Imperial House in Chenyuan" and "Minister in Office", and recommended him to one product. He also gave a peacock feather, which was the only branch of salt merchants at that time. At that time, it was said that Jiang Chun "handed over the cloth to the Emperor" and "all the peers were proud of it".
when emperor Qianlong visited the south of the Yangtze river six times, Jiang Chun undertook all the supplies and planned the reception, which was called "Jiang Chun took over the driving". Emperor Qianlong once played a symmetrical message with Jiang Chun in Jinshan Palace, and personally solved the royal lotus bag, giving it to the face, and was promoted to the rank of Qing Dynasty. He visited Jiang Chun's villa "Kangshan Caotang" twice, gave him precious jade and antiques, inscribed the plaque "Yixingtang", and praised Jiang Chun's miracle of "building a white tower with salt overnight" with "the financial resources of salt merchants are magnificent".
Although Jiang Chun, a great businessman in Huizhou, has been living and struggling in the atmosphere of "Huizhou Colony" he deliberately created: he lived in villas and private gardens with rich Huizhou characteristics, ate Huizhou cuisine cooked by a team of chefs and main raw materials brought from his hometown of Huizhou, and played with his own classes of Huizhou dramatists, such as "Deyin Class" and "Chuntai Class", and even ordinary life conversation terms. There are two things that deserve special mention. One is that Jiang Chunjia's "Spring Stage Class", in the fifty-fifth year of Qianlong (179), together with the "Sanqing Class", "Sixi Class" and "Hechun Class", entered Beijing to perform for the 8th birthday of Emperor Qianlong, and performed the famous "Four Huizhou Classes entered Beijing, which led to the birth of Peking Opera". The other is: Jiang Chun took over the banquet, which was carefully cooked by his family chef team according to Jiang Chun's design.
Why did "Jiang Chun in Cloth" take part in every pick-up and win the praise of Emperor Qianlong? The beauty of that is that what Jiang Chun presented was exactly what local officials lacked and what Emperor Qianlong had never tasted. Jiang Chun played the "special" brand.
So, what are these mysterious comprehensive recipes of "Jiang Chun Hui Cuisine Reception Banquet"? The results show that there are:
Tea products: the traditional tea products and customs of Huizhou Xigezi Tea, which has now become the representative of Anhui intangible cultural heritage, are presented, including Huizhou traditional famous gourmet teas, such as Dingshi Crisp, Inch Golden Sugar, Fuling Cake, Cross Slice, and Huizhou spiced tea eggs.
Breakfast: "Stewed Bird's Nest with Rock Sugar".
drinks: "Huangshan Mao Feng tea" from Caoxi, Huizhou, etc.
fruits: Shexian Santan loquat, yi county Liren Torreya grandis, etc.
Food: fragrant rice made in Gong Mi of Lingshan, Huizhou Tuoxiang, etc.
Tributes: Huizhou Four Treasures of the Study Box, Huizhou Gongju, etc.
Dishes: Jixi Yipin Pot, Gold, Silver and White Jade Plate, Ying Ge with Red Mouth, Thunderbolt, Stewed Tofu with Fish Head, Soft-shelled Turtle in Sandy Land, Civet Cats in Snow, Laxiang Wenzheng Bamboo Shoots, Roasted Tofu with Fat Chicken, Wonton Duck in Huizhou, Shredded Chicken with Green Vegetables and Bean Curd Soup in Huizhou, etc.
"Six southern tours stop him, and he dreams of traveling in the past year", which is a poem written by Emperor Qianlong after his sixth southern tour. Since then, "Emperor Qianlong went down to the south of the Yangtze River" has become a swan song in China's romantic history; Since then, Jiang Chun, who has created the miracle of "building a white tower with salt overnight, and Anhui cuisine taking over as emperor Qianlong", has also become the "most cattle Huizhou merchant" in the history of Huizhou merchants; The "Jiang Chun Reception Banquet", which was carefully designed by Jiang Chun, has now been reborn as a special banquet in the "Huizhou Merchants' Guild" and has become one of the temptations for senior officials, white-collar workers, gourmets and all sentient beings to enter the "Huizhou Merchants' Guild".
Emperor Qianlong of Qing Dynasty (that is, Emperor Gaozong Hongli) reigned for sixty years, not only six times in Qianlong 16th year (1751), Qianlong 22nd year (1757), Qianlong 26th year (1762), Qianlong 3th year (1765), Qianlong 45th year (178) and Qianlong 49th year (1784). He said in the book "The Southern Tour of Imperial System": "If you have been in imperial service for 5 years, you will have two major events, one is the Western Division, and the other is the Southern Tour." Why did the emperor Qianlong go back to the south and north in such a hurry, and went to Jiangnan six times in a row? Some say that Emperor Qianlong "envied the south of the Yangtze River and took advantage of it to travel south", some say that he "found out the truth about his birth" and some say that he "hoped to solve social problems in his southern tour". So far, there are different opinions and opinions.
The latest statement is the "Huizhou Cuisine Theory" that we introduced here, that is, Emperor Qianlong's many trips to the south of the Yangtze River after his visit to the south of the Yangtze River were really for visiting Yangzhou and other places again, and then enjoying the feast and delicacies such as Huizhou Cuisine provided by Jiang Chun. The Jiangnan delicacies such as "Huizhou Cuisine" on the "Jiang Chun Huizhou Cuisine Reception Banquet" are not only unheard of in his life, but also unheard of or seen even after listening, so his curiosity is greatly satisfied, and he can't forget it. After returning to Beijing, I recalled and relished the Anhui cuisine of Jiang Chun, a rich man in the south of the Yangtze River, and tried several times to make the chef cook it, but it was always difficult to do so, and I could never make that taste. Therefore, we have to go to the south of the Yangtze River again and again and see Jiang Chun again, so that we can taste the taste and get rid of the craving. As the saying goes, "Food is the most important thing for the people" and "eating" is the biggest thing in the world.