When it comes to Beijing cuisine, the old “Quanjude” duck restaurant must be among them, and its duck is a must-eat for many foreigners in China. History says that it was founded by Yang Quanren (1822-1890), a native of Hebei during the Qing Dynasty. It is said that when Yang Quanren first arrived in Beijing, he was trading raw chicken and duck in Qianmen Meat Market Street. As his business became more and more prosperous, he took over a dried fruit store on the verge of closing down on Meat Market Street in 1864 and set up a new name “Quanjude” and started to deal in roasted duck and roasted meat.
“The meaning of “Quanjude
Why is it called “Quanjude”? It is said that Yang Quanren had invited a feng shui master to look at the feng shui of the store, and the feng shui master told him: “This place is shaped like an eight-carrying palanquin, which is a precious land. The ‘De Juquan’ is backed up by luck and washed away the treasure, now the name needs to be reversed, in the future, it will definitely come to fruition and business will flourish!” “Chuan Ju De” has three meanings: all but no shortage, gathered but not scattered, benevolence first, and “Yang Chuan Ren” in line.
However, many people have noticed that the word “De” on the “Quanjude” plaque is missing a cross. It turns out that more than a thousand years ago, “德” was like a broken character, which could have a cross or no cross. For example, the character “德” in the “University Monument” of The Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty, which now stands in the Confucius Temple in Beijing, does not have a cross. Another example is the character “德” written by Zheng Banqiao, a Qing Dynasty painter who lived at the same Time as the founding of Quanjude, with or without a cross.
But there is another story is that when Yang started his business, he hired a total of 13 guys, plus himself is 14 people. In order to make everyone work together, he intentionally wrote one less stroke of the character “德” on the plaque, which was originally written with 15 strokes, to show that we can not cross a knife in the heart.
No matter what kind of argument, anyway, under Yang Quanjude’s serious management, Quanjude developed day by day, from an ordinary roast oven store to a veritable restaurant featuring roast duck in a hanging oven and various kinds of fried dishes.
The reason why Quanjude’s roast duck is delicious is that, in addition to the process, its duck meat has no fishy smell, and it is said to have a special duck farm. In addition, the dining environment and service of Quanjude is also very good, and earlier there was a take-away, and the service promise of “on time” and “no mistake”.
In addition to the common people like to eat the roast duck of Quanjude, many celebrities also like to eat, such as Cao Xueqin, the author of “Dream of the Red Chamber”, who once teased that it is not difficult for anyone to read my “Dream of the Red Chamber”, as long as he treats me with southern wine and roast duck.
Yang Fulai, the fourth generation heir
From Yang Quanren to Yang Fulai, the fourth generation, the Yang Family has grown into a large family of more than 100 people. The family adheres to the ancestral motto of “virtue-based”, although there is no big official, but there is no one who eats, drinks, gambles, smokes and loses.
After graduating from junior high school, Yang Fulai first worked as an apprentice in a Japanese owned silver shop, Jichang Silver, because he was a good person, practical and willing to work, quite appreciated by the manager of the bank. At that time, Yang Fulai’s uncle Yang Kuiyao was in charge of Quanjude. After Yang Kuiyao suddenly got cerebral thrombosis, Yang Fulai became the manager of Quanjude.
At this time, Quanjude, like other businesses, was in a difficult business situation and even on the verge of bankruptcy due to the Communist civil war, economic depression and soaring prices. Yang Fulai’s wife, Pu Chongfen, recalled that since Yang Fulai became the manager, he put all his efforts into the old store, preferring not to take a penny for himself in order to pay the wages of his men, and finally pushed the family’s bicycle to the trust store, and sold Pu Chongfen’s dowry and jewelry to make capital turnover.
However, as late as 1952, Quanjude Roast Duck Shop was still in a serious loss, and Yang Fulai was forced to decide to shut down the business and sell all his assets. At this time, the Chinese Communist Party introduced the so-called public-private partnership, forcibly converting private enterprises into state-run enterprises. The Beijing government assigned Liu Hualong, the former manager of the trust company, to be the manager of Quanjude, and Yang Fulai to be the deputy manager, so that Quanjude Roast Duck Restaurant could continue to exist and become an important place for the CCP to entertain foreign guests.
The absurd things that happened in Quanjude during the Cultural Revolution
After the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, Quanjude Roast Duck Restaurant still maintained its previous characteristics in the early years of the Chinese Communist Party. In 1966, after Mao launched the Cultural Revolution, the “Four Olds” campaign swept the country, and many old plaques were smashed by the Red Guards as “black goods of feudalism, capitalism, and revisionism”, and Quanjude was no exception.
On the night of August 19 of that year, thousands of Red Guards from several high schools in Beijing barged into Quanjude Roast Duck Restaurant. Under the Red Guards’ harsh rebuke and incitement, the “revolutionary workers” of the restaurant took off the plaque of “Quanjude” that had been hanging at the entrance of the restaurant for more than 70 years and replaced it with a long painted wooden sign of “Beijing Roast Duck Restaurant” written by the Red Guards in advance. “The Red Guards took down the plaque that had been hanging in front of the shop for more than 70 years and replaced it with a long painted wooden sign that had been written in advance by the Red Guards.
The Red Guards also went through the restaurant, kitchen and dormitories of Quanjude and tore down all the landscape paintings that had been hung in the store, and elected 10 Red Guards as “security guards”, “waiters” and “propagandists of Mao Zedong Thought” of the roast duck restaurant. Mao Zedong Thought Propagandist” in the store to stay.
Soon, the Red Guards ordered 100 portraits of Mao from the Xinhua Bookstore and posted them everywhere in the duck store, and Mao’s quotations were posted everywhere. The Red Guards also led a “political study” for the staff of the restaurant, making them realize that the three words “Quanjude” were forged by the capitalists with the blood and sweat of the working people and were a symbol of exploitation, so the signboard had to be abolished. It is said that the century-old plaque of Quanjude was also displayed at the “Exhibition of the achievements of the Red Guards in breaking the Four Olds” held at the Beijing Exhibition Hall at the end of 1968.
Yang Fulai was also criticized and sent to feed pigs in a pig farm in Nanyuan. Later, he was “pardoned” for bringing foreign guests to Quanjude from time to time to eat roast duck.
In 1973, when the Hepingmen Quanjude Roast Duck Restaurant was rebuilt, Yang Fulai was transferred to work on the infrastructure, and then returned to the Qianmen Store, where he suffered a sudden myocardial infarction in 1982 due to overwork. He was bedridden for more than ten years and died in August 1995 at the age of 73.
Conclusion
After the end of the Cultural Revolution, Quanjude officially restored its old name in 1980 and retrieved the century-old plaque from the Forbidden City, and after Yang Fulai’s death, his second daughter Zongman took over her father’s class and became the fifth generation of Quanjude’s successor. However, the absurdity of what happened to Quanjude reflects the absurdity of an era from one side, and epitomizes the private enterprises and entrepreneurs who were persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party.
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