Friends from the north must be familiar with the dish Mushu Pork. Why is a dish stir-fried with lean pork, eggs, fungus and other vegetables called Mushu Pork? In fact, in addition to Mushu meat, northern dishes also include Mushu shrimps, Mushu cucumbers, etc. And these dishes called musu have a unique feature, that is, they all contain eggs.

Why is the egg not called an egg but called Mushu? The reason behind this title is related to a taboo of eunuchs in the Qing Dynasty.

At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the rule of the Qing Dynasty was shaky, and the control of eunuchs was not as tight as that of the previous dynasty. It is no longer difficult for eunuchs to want to go out for a stroll in the palace. The food in the Qing palace was not very friendly to servants like eunuchs, so many eunuchs who received salaries sneaked out of the palace and went to restaurants under the pretense of working for their masters.

Therefore, in the old Beijing city in the late Qing Dynasty, old eunuchs could often be seen wandering around in the market, especially in major restaurants. We all know that eunuchs are incomplete men. When they were sent to the palace from childhood, they had to undergo castration according to ancestral rules. They lost their dignity as men at a young age, so eunuchs were extremely taboo about the word "chicken".

In private restaurants, many dishes are made with eggs or chickens as raw materials. Like fried chicken, chicken offal, musu meat, etc. As more and more eunuchs patronize major restaurants in Beijing, restaurant owners are also wary of violating their taboos, so they change all dishes with "eggs" and "chicken" in their names. A name was given, and a set of lingo was gradually formed.

The most famous one is the egg changed into "mushu". Since fried eggs look very similar to dried sweet-scented osmanthus (scientific name is osmanthus), all dishes with scrambled eggs were renamed osmanthus, and gradually became popularly called mushu. This is the origin of Mushu meat.

Except for Mushu meat, many existing snacks related to chicken or egg products in Beijing have had their names changed due to this taboo of eunuchs. For example, smoked chicken is called smoked animal in Beijing; fried chicken is called fried eight pieces in Beijing; lying eggs are called woguoer in Beijing dialect; chicken cake is renamed Caozi cake. The names were all changed to avoid taboos.

Today, although the group of eunuchs has long ceased to exist, the various dishes that were renamed to take care of their taboos are still called today due to habit.