Introduction of special products

Acer truncatum in Tongxiang, with huge fruit shape, deep red skin, abnormal fragrance, sweetness and delicacy, ranks among all plums, is a treasure among plums and is a famous local product in Tongxiang. In ancient times, it was often used as a tribute to emperors, and it was famous far and wide. Plum was originally from Li Cheng, an ancient city. Du pre-noted in Spring and Autumn Annals: "There is a Li Cheng in the southwest of Jiaxing County, Wujun County, and its real estate is named Jiali." [1]

[ edit this paragraph] taste value

Acer truncatum is a rare and famous fruit with a long history, which is unique in Jiaxing city and has been well-known in ancient times. According to the authoritative word book Shuo Wen Jie Zi, it is said that "the wood is pounded", and pounded means struck, which seems to mean pruning. It has other aliases, such as drunken Li and Juan Li, which are not common in modern times. Acer Plum is a kind of plum fruit. The original producing area of plum is in China, and there are also various plums in Jiaxing, such as: Lady Plum, Red Plum, Purple Plum, Yu Plum, etc. Yuan Pan Plum and Xu Yuanli were also called good products in Ming and Qing Dynasties. However, Acer truncatum is different from all kinds of plums, because it is of high quality and delicious taste, and it is called a peerless product and a fairy fruit, and its bears are also different from ordinary plums. According to the literature and the introduction of horticulture, Acer truncatum originated in Jiaxing, and belongs to a deciduous sub-tree of Rosaceae. It is generally three or four meters high, with a slightly apricot tree shape, open branches, purple-brown trunk, oval and smooth leaves, and its branches and leaves are different from those of ordinary plums. In modern times, Acer truncatum trees all adopt grafting method to raise seedlings, and the rootstocks are mostly peach trees or wild plums. According to the literature: In ancient times, multi-branch root transplantation or layering method for seedling raising of plum is no longer used in modern times. In modern times, Acer truncatum can bear fruit after six or seven years of planting and three or four years of proper cultivation, and it can bear fruit in three or four years when young peach trees of three or four years old are used as rootstocks. The age of the tree is 1 to 2 years, and it will gradually age after 2 years, and its life span will be up to 4 years. Acer truncatum generally blooms before Qingming Festival, when it is in full bloom. The normal flowering period is about one week to more than ten days, and it is only two or three days in bad weather. The pistils of Acer negundo are small and dense, silvery white in color, clean and condensed in flower quality, clustered with branches, glittering and translucent as snow in the distance, lined with fresh green leaves, not bright and charming, clear and fresh. The ancients said, "Plum blossoms are as clear as snow", "White as smoke", "Elegance and purity are better than plum blossoms" and "Entering the plum garden is like entering the fragrant snow sea", which is of great ornamental value. After flowering, the fruit will bear fruit for about two months, and the fruit will mature in a few days before and after the slight summer heat. Among the green leaves, there is a little bit of deep red. The ancients said, "Children become red clouds and thick", forming a series of gorgeous scenery. The fruit of Acer truncatum is round and slightly flat, with a short pedicle and a flat bottom, which can be placed flat on the table (other species cannot be placed flat). When it is ripe, its skin is dark red with yellow spots, some of which are half yellow and half red, and there are still yellow spots in the red place. The fruit is covered with white fruit powder. Some fruits have a grain mark on the top. Like the marks carved by people's nails, this is the so-called claw mark of Xi Shi, which has been spread throughout the ages. When the maple plums are ripe, they glow through the neck, and the flesh inside the skin is yellow, fresh and moist like amber, and turns into a slurry. Whether the pulp is pulped when it is ripe is thought by predecessors to be the main basis for distinguishing the authenticity of Acer truncatum. Both picking and eating should grasp this opportunity. If it is too raw, it will not melt into slurry, and the taste will only be sweet. If it is too ripe, it will lose slurry. The elegant way to eat it is to gently wipe off the fruit powder and peel off a small mouth on the skin, so that the pulp can be sucked up at once, leaving only one fruit tendon, such as golden silk thread, to connect the fruit core. The fruit is delicious and has a slight bouquet. People who have eaten the true kind of Acer truncatum in ancient and modern times are all full of praise, calling it "nectar and jade liquid" and "like nectar and nectar", which are evaluated above all kinds of fruits.

[ Edit this paragraph] Product legend

There is a claw mark on the top of Acer negundo, which looks like a fingernail. It is said that this is the mark left by beauty Xi Shi. A long time ago, in the Spring and Autumn Period, the area around Baitao was originally the border between Wu and Yue. Here, ideal city's famous Li is in Vietnam. During the Spring and Autumn Period, wuyue often went to war, and the State of Yue was defeated by the State of Wu, so Gou Jian, the king of Yue, had to retreat to Huiji and become a minister to Wu. Gou Jian suffered a great humiliation, and vowed to avenge himself. When he learned that Fu Cha, the prince of Wu, was lewd and lustful, he decided to adopt the "beauty plan" offered by Wen Zi, a minister. He sent Fan Li, a wise minister, to Zhuji Zhuluo Village to find a smart, beautiful and patriotic Xi Shi girl and prepare to dedicate her to the prince of Wu. Xi Shi understood the intention of the King of Yue. In order to wash away the shame of national subjugation, she resolutely compromised and married the enemy. She studied court etiquette and dancing on the silk and bamboo in Huiji for three years. In the spring of this year, under the escort of a group of maids, she took a BMW sedan, set out from Huiji, crossed Qiantang and went north along the ancient road. Along the way, I saw willow green like smoke and spring flowers like fire. When they passed by Li Cheng, they looked up and saw plum trees and snow-white plum blossoms everywhere, clustered into balls and covered with branches, just like Xue Hai. Seeing this beautiful scenery, Xi Shi evoked a feeling of nostalgia for his native land, and could not help sighing in a low voice: "The plum blossoms in his hometown lead to homesickness. When will he return here?" When Xi Shi entered the Wu Palace, Fu Cha, the king of Wu, was really moved by her beauty and stayed with her all day. In order to win the favor of Xi Shi, the king of Wu always caters to her needs. First of all, let Xi Shi choose the tributes sent from all over the country. This summer, the state of Yue presented a batch of plums to the prince of Wu. Fu Cha immediately ordered the maids to give these plums to Xi Shi for tasting. Xi Shi heard that this is a plum sent by his old country, and he was touched by things, and recalled the scene of roaming the pear garden in spring. She really wants to have a pair of wings and fly back to Vietnam immediately, so she has no idea to taste these plums. After a while, the prince of Wu came into the palace and saw the plums sent by the maid-in-waiting still intact on the table. He said, "Ai Fei, why don't you taste such a good tribute?" Xi Shi replied, "This plum has been picked for too long, and its taste is not fresh." "I ordered them to bring some fresh plums immediately!" The prince of Wu said that he wanted to convey the purport. Xi Shi shook his hand and said, "The two places are far apart, so it is difficult to keep them fresh because of the delay in the road. I want to go to Liyuan to pick and taste it myself. " It is said that Xi Shi is going to travel to taste plums, and the prince of Wu should take a bite. Therefore, a group of ladies-in-waiting were selected to accompany Xi Shi to Li Yuan. When Xi Shi came to Li Cheng, he was very happy when he returned to his native country. Just outside the city, plum trees are lined up in rows, and the tree heads are covered with deep red plums. The scenery is beautiful and moving. Surrounded by a group of maids, she strolled to Li Yuan. The ripe plums are red in green, covered with yellow spots and covered with white powder, and their taste is attractive. Xi Shi picked one at random and pinched it gently on the top of the plum with his fingernail. Suddenly, the juice overflowed and the fragrance came into his nose. Put it on your mouth and suck it. Plum juice is like sweet wine. Xi Shi ate several pills and was drunk. Since then, people have named the plums here "drunken plums". Because "drunk" and "beech" are homonyms, and the city is called beech, people later called the plums here beech. Strange to say, since Xi Shi came to Liyuan, the Acer truncatum growing here has a scar on the top of the fruit that looks like a claw mark. It is said that this is the nail print left by Xi Shi when he ate plum, and it is called "claw mark of Xi Shi", just as peony has the finger mark of a noble lady, which has been passed down through the ages and cited as a beautiful talk. Taishi Zhu Zhuwa of the Qing Dynasty once wrote in the "Song of the Yuan Lake": "I heard that Xi Shi was once pinched, and so far a claw mark has been added."

[ Edit this paragraph] Planting history

Acer truncatum L. is produced exclusively in Jiaxing with a long history. According to ancient literature. In the Spring and Autumn Period of the 5th century BC, there was already a place name of Li in the city, and the local chronicles of past dynasties successively recorded that "the land is named after the fruit". According to this, Li has been in Jiaxing for at least 2,5 years. According to legend, it has been widely planted in China since the Spring and Autumn Period, but there is no literature record. The poem "A Beautiful Plum in a Pure Phase" written by Yao Zhang Tong in the Southern Song Dynasty was first recorded in the planting of characters. This exact record has also been nearly a thousand years ago. Many documents in the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties said that Jingxiang Temple in Jiaxing produced Acer truncatum, which was the main producing area of Acer truncatum in ancient Jiaxing. By the early Qing Dynasty, Jingxiang Temple was divided into ten rooms, each with several beech plants, with an estimated total of only fifty or sixty. In the Ming Dynasty and the early Qing Dynasty, Yao 'an in Wangdian, Jiaxing, Taiping Temple in Niigata, and folk houses in Niigata, Xincheng, Taishiqiao and Liuliyan in Jiaxing were also planted sporadically, and most of them were introduced directly or propagated indirectly from Jingxiang Temple. Because of Li's high reputation, feudal officials in past dynasties often extorted offerings from Jingxiang Temple, and the monks in the temple were not happy to cultivate them, so the fruit trees gradually declined. In the preface to Zhu Yizun's Fu on Li in the early Qing Dynasty, he said: "Li is found in Jingxiang Temple in the east of the county, and it is needed by officials who are close to suffering. Many monks in the temple are cut down, so there is nothing to worry about in the future!" By the mid-Qing Dynasty, there were only more than twenty Acer negundo trees in Jingxiang Temple, and there were no planters in various villages.

in the late Qing dynasty, the Tudian area in Tongxiang and the Lijia family in Qixin, Jiaxing became the concentrated producing areas of Acer truncatum. Acer truncatum was originally planted in Tudian area, and the original species was also introduced from Jingxiang Temple. After the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, it was popularized and planted, forming a large scale in the past hundred years. It is located in Taoyuan Tou Village, Baitao Township, with a planting area of seven or eight square kilometers. Before the Anti-Japanese War, there were more than 2 mu of plum gardens, with tens of thousands of plum trees, with an annual output of 3, to 4, kilograms, which were sold in Shanghai and Hangzhou, with a wide influence. This place was once established as the township of beech, and it also claimed to be the location of Li Cheng, the ancient beech, so it was the place of origin of beech in the society for a while, and "Tongxiang beech" became famous everywhere. In the years before the Anti-Japanese War, the output of this area had declined, with an annual output of only 1, Jin. During the Anti-Japanese War, it suffered serious losses and was completely destroyed. Li's plum planting in Qixin Qichang, Jiaxing, began in Jiaqing, Jiaqing. The real name of Qichang Village was Xishen, and Li Yuanye was a Chinese medicine practitioner in the village. At that time, he saw that the plum trees in the nearby Jingxiang Temple were dying, and he begged several seedlings from the temple to open a garden and transplant them. After more than 1 years' breeding in three or four generations, there were several acres of plum orchards and more than 2 Acer truncatum plants in Guangxu, Qing Dynasty, and the varieties were pure, which were called "Longhu Acer Truncatum". As a family, Li had a wide range of handover and influence. During the Anti-Japanese War, Li Yuan was destroyed by artillery fire. At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, there were many plums in Liuliyan, Haiyan. According to statistics, the annual output value reached 2, yuan in the years before the Anti-Japanese War. Are they all authentic plums? There is a lack of records, and it is said that the quality is inferior. As for Jingxiang Temple, there were no plums in Guangxu in the Qing Dynasty. In the 192s and 193s, monks moved back to the Qichang Plum Garden to plant four plants to decorate the historic sites. After the Anti-Japanese War, there was only one, which no longer existed after liberation. In the 192s and 193s, in addition to Qixiang Temple and Jingxiang Temple, only villages and towns such as Xinhuang, Zhulin, Fengqiao and Yuxiandi in Jiaxing County were planted sporadically. Jiaxing Nursery, a railway in the city, reported that Acer truncatum was also planted in Jiang's Garden on the opposite river. After the end of Qing Dynasty, Acer truncatum planting also spread abroad. When Liu, a magistrate of Jiaxing County, left his post in Guangxu period of Qing Dynasty, he asked the Li family in Qiliang to take two seedlings to Jiangxi. In the early Republic of China, Hangzhou Wuyun Farm transplanted two Acer truncatum plants from Tongxiang, and then propagated them to the gardening field of Zhejiang University Agricultural College, Xiaoshan Xianghu Farm, Nanjing Jinling University Farm and other places, and also planted them in Renpu Orchard near Hangzhou Zhakou. In 193s, authorities in Zhejiang Province and Jiaxing County discussed and planned to revive Acer truncatum, and all sectors of society responded. Jingli Township was established near Jingxiang Temple in Jiaxing. In 193, Cheng Ruji, an agricultural technician in Jiaxing County, invested 2, yuan to set up an orchard in Yuxiandai to collect different varieties of Acer truncatum, which were divided into five strains and named according to the classification from No.1 to No.5 for comparative planting, with the intention of cultivating high-quality varieties. In 1935, Jiaxing County established the Qiliyuan Garden near the East Tower, and began to carry out systematic tests and popularization. Soon after the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, Japanese artillery fire destroyed Qiliyuan Garden, and everything went up in smoke.

after liberation, the production of Acer truncatum was paid attention to by the party and the government. Tongxiang county once sent samples of Acer truncatum to the capital for exhibition. In 1958, at the request of Comrade Zhu De, Zhejiang Province sent twelve strains of Acer li miao to Beijing for breeding. In 1961, according to the request of Jiaxing area and Tongxiang county, the provincial government allocated special funds to support Tongxiang county to rebuild the plum garden in Baitao township. After the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, leading organs in Jiaxing, Tongxiang and other cities and counties launched the expansion of Acer Truncatum planting, and gave strong support in many aspects, such as policy, material, nursery stock provision and scientific and technological services, so that Acer Truncatum production gradually recovered and developed. There are more than 2, fruit trees in Baitao Township, Tongxiang, more than 4 in Fengqiao Town, Jiaxing, and many farmers grow them in other towns and villages. In recent years, the leading organs of provinces and cities have increased their support, allocated more special funds, strengthened scientific and technological guidance, and used modern means to promote cultivation, striving for high-quality and stable production of Prunus mume.

Acer truncatum is delicious, but it is difficult to cultivate, and the yield has always been unstable and not high. In the past, in the heyday, each tree generally produced one or two hundred or twenty or thirty kilograms of fruit, while in the lean years, the yield was very small, even only one or twenty or two or three kilograms per tree. Some farmers are eager to have a good year and yield, and hundreds of fruits are not sparse, which leads to the extension of the "off-year" period, the decline of quality or the shortening of tree age. The development of Acer truncatum is greatly influenced by objective natural conditions, with many small pistils degenerating. It is difficult to pollinate itself, and it is tender and easy to be polluted. In case of sudden cold or wind and rain, especially heavy fog, it cannot bear fruit. In the old days, due to the restriction of social and production conditions, a complete set of applicable production technologies has not been formed, and the years of output and non-harvest alternate. Become a rule. Zhu Mengxian's "Li Pu" says: "In ten years, the prolific ones only have two years, the ordinary ones live for about four years, the least ones for about three years, and none for about one year. After numerous births, it will be barren every two to three years. " This situation has not improved so far, but due to the deterioration of natural conditions and the intensification of environmental pollution, the production situation is even more depressed. Since 1994, some concentrated production areas have been poor in harvest, or even have no harvest for years. Therefore, it is urgent to improve its living conditions, summarize and improve its technical guidance and further strengthen support from all aspects.

[ Edit this paragraph] Product culture

The planting and fruit tasting of Acer truncatum have formed a close relationship with the local history, geography and culture of Jiaxing after thousands of years of cultural accumulation. Around Acer truncatum, there is a lot of cultural precipitation. Appreciating Acer truncatum is not only a delicious food, but also a colorful traditional cultural activity.

as a cultural phenomenon, the relationship between the fruit and the place name Acer truncatum is inseparable. Plum is an ancient place name in Jiaxing, and later it evolved into the elegant name and representative name of several counties in China. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, wuyue and China fought fiercely in Li Fengyun. This historical fact is included in the Confucian classic Spring and Autumn Annals written by Confucius and another ancient book, Zuozhuan. Records of later generations: There are different sayings about the land of Mi Li, such as Mi Li Cheng, Mi Li Township and Mi Li Ruins, and some "relics" such as Mi Li Ting and Mi Li Chi have also been derived. According to legend, the origin of Li's name is "the place is named after the fruit". Since the Song and Yuan Dynasties, all the local chronicles and historical records that people can see hold this statement. According to this, there are countless historical facts and anecdotes around the fruit of Acer negundo, which cause people to talk and miss; And because the word "Acer truncatum" was written by Confucius in the Spring and Autumn Annals, the status of Acer truncatum fruit also rose accordingly, so it was highly praised by people. Li is also associated with the ancient beauty Xi Shi in the legend, which makes it even more precious. According to legend, when Xi Shi entered Wu and passed through Jiaxing, he tasted Acer truncatum, leaving a nail mark when pinching the fruit. Since then, the fruit has left a mark from generation to generation. This legend has been passed down from mouth to mouth. People know it is absurd, but they still talk about it. Literati use poems to recite and describe it, which adds to the gorgeous color of Li. Li's legend is also related to astronomical phenomena. Legend has it that the Big Dipper in the sky is in charge of fruit trees. In summer, the handle of the Big Dipper faces south, pointing directly to the land of wuyue. Acer truncatum is transformed by the "aura" of Yuhengxing on the handle, which adds a layer of mystery to Acer truncatum. These legends, together with many other allusions, have been cited as stories for generations to come. Therefore, the appreciation and taste of plum has become an endless local cultural habit. In the old days, literati enjoyed flowers and fruits in spring and summer, gathered and chanted, wrote inscriptions and painted pictures, and the host also invited guests to taste beauty and collect poems and books, all of which were elegant moves. People also take Acer Truncatum as a valuable gift for senior officials, celebrities, relatives and friends, filled with bamboo boxes, with banana leaves at the bottom, covered with silk, and delivered by special personnel as far away as Suzhou and Hangzhou. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the price of "Fanyin" was one yuan per catty of plum, which was still in short supply and not easy to buy. For thousands of years, the connoisseurs have left many poems, paintings and calligraphy, which have enriched the local culture. Its prosperity can be seen from the inscriptions of Plum Tree and Plum Tree in Longhu. [2]