China's Intangible Heritage —— Rice Cake

You can't take China's non-legacy rice cakes.

Rice cakes, exploring the source.

Only when the understanding of the source of one's own civilization is gradually clear can it be transformed into a deeper and more lasting force in everyone's heart, and such self-confidence can calmly face all the insecurities that others strive for.

Rice cakes are made of rice, and the long history of rice cakes is bound to be closely related to the longer rice planting history.

1974, archaeologists discovered full-grain and well-preserved rice seeds at the Hemudu matriarchal clan social site in Yuyao, Zhejiang, indicating that our ancestors began to grow rice as early as 7000 years ago.

Beijing had the custom of eating rice cakes as early as the Liao Dynasty. In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, rice cakes have developed into perennial snacks in the market, and there are differences between North and South flavors. The article "Scenery of the Imperial Capital" published in Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty records that Beijingers at that time made rice cakes on the first day of the first month.

Changsha, Hunan Province also produces rice cakes, which are made of glutinous rice. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Huo Nan Food Workshop in Changsha Town was developed on the basis of the traditional technology of making Ciba. Grinding glutinous rice into fine powder, adding white sugar, kneading into rice balls with water, kneading into strips, squares and round blocks, and pressing into rice cakes with various auxiliary materials.

In the Han Dynasty, rice cakes were called "rice cakes", "fish bait" and "glutinous rice". In the book Dialect written by the Han Dynasty, there has been a title of "Gao". Popular in Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties. The ancients also had a development process from rice cakes to rice cakes.

There is a method of making "white cocoon sugar" for making rice cakes in the cookbook Historical Records in the 6th century AD. "Cooked rice is cooked. If it is blanched, it will be cooked very well in spring, so there will be no rice grains ..." After the glutinous rice is steamed, it will be cooked while it is hot.

The method of grinding rice into cakes is also very early, which can be proved by the Book of Qi Yaomin written by Jia Sixie in the Northern Wei Dynasty. The production method is to screen glutinous rice flour with silk, add water and honey to knead it into hard dough, attach dates and chestnuts to the dough, wrap it with bamboo leaves and steam it.

Development stage.

The first stage is the embryonic stage of rice cakes-the year when Wu Zixu died in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period in 484 BC-the Han Dynasty in the third century A.D. The Han Dynasty was also called "rice cakes", "bait" and "glutinous rice".

In the second stage, the embryonic stage of rice cakes-Dialects written by Yang Xiong in the Eastern Han Dynasty from the 3rd century to the 6th century A.D. called rice cakes "cakes", and Jia Sixie in the Northern Wei Dynasty recorded its making method.

The third stage, the formation stage of rice cakes-Wei Dynasty in the 6th century A.D. and Ming Dynasty in the17th century A.D. ... The "A Brief Introduction to the Scenery of the Imperial Capital" in the Chongzhen period of the Ming Dynasty recorded that Beijingers at that time "made millet cakes on the first day of the first month and put them on the market for supply.

The fourth stage, the primary development stage of rice cakes-Shuimo rice cakes in Guangxu period of Qing Dynasty from17th century to19th century. One-year-old merchant descendants in Dongbutou, Cixi invented the rice cake, and gradually developed it into rice flour. After drying, it was ground into a water mill and made into Cixi rice cake. During the Guangxu period of Qing Dynasty, there was a farmer named Chen Peiji in the two lakes of Shangyu County. He imitated the method of making tofu, soaked rice in water, and then milled it to make the rice cakes in the two lakes.

The fifth stage is the slow development stage of rice cakes,1early 9th century ~ 1978. Handmade small workshops and started market trade, as evidenced by the Records of Agricultural Trade Transactions in Sanqi City and Erliu City of Cixi County during Guangxu Period of Qing Dynasty.

The sixth stage, the rapid development stage of rice cakes, 1979 ~ now. Mechanized production has gradually replaced the manual workshop industry and will now enter the stage of modern production.

Classification.

The first one takes glutinous rice as the main raw material. Most of the early rice cakes were made of glutinous rice. Representative varieties are Suzhou rice cake, Shanghai Chongming rice cake, Yunnan Mengzi rice cake and Changsha rice cake.

The second type takes japonica rice as the main raw material, and the milled rice cake formed in the later stage is mainly japonica rice. Representative varieties include Ningbo rice cake, Shangyu Lianghu rice cake and Jiangxi Yiyang rice cake.

The third category takes miscellaneous grains as the main raw materials, and the representative varieties are Beijing rice cake and Saibei yellow rice cake.

The fourth category consists of diversified raw materials, mainly glutinous rice, or mixed with indica rice or japonica rice or other miscellaneous grains, as well as other natural ingredients such as brown sugar, osmanthus, red dates, lard and so on. Is added to form colorful rice cakes. Representative varieties are Suzhou-style osmanthus rice cake, Jiangshan Badu Tongluo cake, Babao rice cake and so on.