Chapter 9 Qijieting and Shanghai Cuisine

Shanghai was an important place in Lu Xun's fifty-five years of life, and he lived here for the last nine years of his life. As a nationalist, Lu Xun chose to live in Shanghai, where there are many concessions, and Hongkou District, where Japanese people are densely populated. This is very intriguing.Chen Danqing, a Shanghai native and a famous scholar, believes that Lu Xun chose to live in Shanghai because of comprehensive considerations, but he was not happy in his heart. , which has a bitter meaning. Bitterness is bitterness, but life still has to go, and friends still have to be made.In Shanghai, Lu Xun had a higher status in the literary world, more friends, and organized a "Left Alliance", so there were naturally many dinners.Located at the mouth of the Yangtze River, Shanghai is a place where all kinds of delicacies gather, which suits Lu Xun's appetite very well.As in Beijing, many well-known restaurants in Shanghai have left his footprints.

Zhiwei Guanhang Restaurant is the place Lu Xun visited the most during his stay in Shanghai.It opened in 1930. It was originally located at the intersection of Zhifu Road, Tibet, and later moved to the intersection of Fujian Road, Nanjing. It was originally founded by a Hangzhou boss and a famous chef. It is characterized by authentic Hangzhou flavor. Special dishes include West Lake Vinegar Fish, Dongpo Pork, Beggar's Chicken, West Lake Brasenia Soup, etc.These are all famous dishes in Zhejiang, and the West Lake vinegar fish is also a dish that Chiang Kai-shek likes very much. On October 23, 1933, Lu Xun invited the director of Fumin Hospital of Japan and Mr. Uchiyama to a banquet at Zhiweiguan. He personally ordered "Beggar's Chicken" and "West Lake Water Shield Soup".During the banquet, Lu Xun specially introduced the origin and practice of "beggar chicken" to the guests.

These wonderful introductions aroused great interest from Japanese friends.After the director of Fumin Hospital returned to Japan, he widely publicized the special flavor of Hangzhou cuisine, making Zhiweiguan and its dishes such as "Beggar's Chicken" and "West Lake Vinegar Fish" famous in Japan.Until the early 1980s, when the members of the "Japanese Chinese Cuisine Delegation" and "Friends of Japanese Housewives" visited Shanghai, they also asked to taste "Beggar's Chicken" and "West Lake Vinegar Fish" at Zhiweiguan.This also shows from one side that celebrities have an extraordinary influence on food.

When he was in Beijing, Lu Xun loved Henan cuisine very much and often went to Houdefu, a famous Henan cuisine restaurant.When he arrived in Shanghai, he discovered a new famous Henan cuisine building——Liangyuan Zhimei Building.This restaurant is actually a combination of Henan cuisine and Beijing court cuisine, mainly Henan cuisine.Founded by Yue Xiukun, a native of Kaifeng, Henan, and others, it opened in 1920. It was originally located at the intersection of Hankou Road, Yunnan Middle Road, and moved to near the intersection of Jiujiang Road, Zhejiang Road in 1980. Celebrities are undoubtedly the best advertisements for restaurants. Li Bai's song "Lanling Fine Wine Tulips" has passed down Lanling Fine Wine for thousands of years.Lu Xun was a celebrity in Shanghai, and when he went to Liang Yuan for dinner, he was taken care of by the boss, and even came to have a family dinner for Lu Xun. In 1934, Lu Xun's diary recorded: "Late mature Liangyuan Yucai restaurant comes to house its own food."

Braised monkey head is the most famous dish in Liangyuan, and it is also a famous dish in Henan. It is also known as bear's paw, sea cucumber, and shark's fin. Lu Xun liked this dish very much. "Follow what you love", Cao Jinghua, a good friend of Lu Xun, a famous translator and essayist, often sends Hericium erinaceus to Lu Xun.Cao's hometown is in Lushi County, Henan Province. There is a Xiaopingba at the intersection of Xiaolinzi in the county. There are only seven large birch and oak trees with a diameter of about one and a half meters. In July and August, when it is cloudy and rainy, Hericium erinaceus grows. On August 25, 1936 (two months before Lu Xun's death), it was recorded in Lu Xun's diary: "In the afternoon, Jinghua sent four pieces of Hericium erinaceus, one box of morel mushrooms, and two liters of Lingbao jujube." On August 27, Lu Xun He wrote back to Cao Jinghua: "Hericium has never been heard of, and it is a respectable product. I plan to eat it when there are guests." On September 7, Lu Xun invited Liang Yuan's chef to come to his home to make the dish of grilled monkey head.Afterwards, he wrote back a letter to Cao Jinghua, to the effect that Hericium erinaceus tastes really good, and it tastes different from ordinary mushrooms, and people in the south hardly know the name.He also mentioned in the letter: But I think if it is studied by botanists or agronomists, it may be cultivated.

Lu Xun’s wish to cultivate Hericium erinaceus was realized more than 40 years later: in 1979, Xu Xukun, the director of a microbial factory in Zhejiang, used the residue of King Kong thorn as a culture medium and domesticated it with the Shanghai Edible Fungi Research Institute. Hericium erinaceus strains were bred to produce No. 99 strain with short production cycle and high yield.Later, it became a mass-produced product and entered the domestic and foreign markets. "Seeing things and thinking about people", this made Cao Jinghua very emotional. He once wrote a special article saying that Lu Xun's wish had come true.

Dexing Restaurant is a relatively well-known restaurant in Shanghai. It was originally founded by the builder Wan Yunsheng. It opened in 1883. It was originally located on Zhenru Road "Yanghang Street" near Nansi Shiliupu. It was later moved to Dongmen Road to operate a popular restaurant. In the 1930s, Wu Bingying, the owner of the bank, was the manager. After the expansion, it featured Shanghai-style stir-fried dishes.Housekeeping dishes include shrimp, big black ginseng and buckwheat.Many Shanghai tycoons are fond of this place, and gourmets like Lu Xun will naturally not miss it, and often invite friends from other places to eat here to taste authentic Shanghai-style dishes.

Gongdelin is now almost synonymous with vegetarian dishes. It is very famous and has a semicolon in Beijing, but it actually originated in Shanghai. It was founded by Zhao Yunshao, an apprentice of Master Gao Weijun of Changji Temple in Huangcheng Mountain, Hangzhou. It was originally located in Shanghai and Beijing. The intersection of East Road and Guizhou Road opened in 1922 and moved to Huanghe Road near West Nanjing Road in 1942.The main famous dishes are five-spice roasted bran, Gongde ham, vegetarian crab powder, and Arhat dishes.This place is very popular with cultural celebrities. Besides Lu Xun, Liu Yazi, Shen Junru, Zou Taofen, Shi Liang, Sha Qianli and other "Seven Gentlemen" also frequent this store.

Even when eating, Lu Xun also showed his personality of "clear love and hate".He doesn't like the authentic vegetarian meat, chicken, fish, etc. made of soy products in Gongdelin. He thinks this is the hypocrisy of vegetarians. He never forgets to eat meat, so the restaurant developed this variation of dishes.Taking food as an example, I did a quick analysis of the national characteristics.