An Overview of the Historical Stages and Characteristics of the Origin and Development of Food Culture in China

Xu

Food is the most important thing for the people-China's food culture

China's diet enjoys a high reputation in the world. Overseas Chinese and Chinese foreigners make a living overseas, and the most common industry is catering. There are China restaurants in China, and China's diet can be said to have been "eaten" by the world. This phenomenon was keenly observed by the revolutionary pioneer Dr. Sun Yat-sen as early as the beginning of this century. Dr. Sun Yat-sen said in his book "General Plan for the Founding of the People's Republic of China": "After the evolution of modern civilization in China, everything fell behind, but the progress of diet was not as good as that of other countries." Dr. Sun Yat-sen's statement is very correct. In fact, as Dr. Sun Yat-sen said, Chinese civilization was shattered by western civilization in modern times, and people of insight had to feel their pulse. However, China restaurants are completely different. They can actually land in Europe and America, spread all over the world and be invincible. Today, there are China restaurants in almost every corner of the world. This sharp contrast has attracted academic attention, but there is no more convincing explanation. We believe that it is not an isolated and accidental phenomenon that China's restaurants can spread all over the world, and the reason is inextricably linked with China's food culture. Therefore, discussing some characteristics of China's food culture will help us to explain this phenomenon.

When it comes to China's food culture, many people will praise China's recipes and the color, fragrance, taste and shape of Chinese food. However, if we want to discuss food culture from a comparative perspective, we can operate by grasping the essence of China food culture. No comparison, no approval. Here, the author thinks that the more feasible way is to explore China's food culture from the perspective of food lifestyle. In fact, China's food culture actually refers to China people's food lifestyle. If we want to talk about China's food culture, we must involve China culture, and the relationship between them is extremely close. Therefore, it is necessary for us to explain some characteristics of China culture first.

What kind of culture is China culture? It is necessary to know the geographical environment of China's early culture, because the earlier it is, the greater the environmental constraints on culture. China is located in the southeast of the Asian continent, with vast deserts, grasslands and Gobi in the northwest and vast sea in the southeast. Although the land in the Yellow River Basin, the main hotbed of China culture, is very fertile, other environments are harsh, windy and rainy, and living conditions are not good. After the emergence of civilization, the culture at that time showed a strong tendency of realism, with a strong ethical and moral color. Because what this society needs is humility and less desire, and when a society needs something, it is often the time when it lacks something. China culture showed the characteristics of precocity from the beginning. Marx once thought that Chinese civilization was a precocious baby, and her development process had obvious advanced characteristics. On the other hand, western civilization is completely different. Childhood of Western Culture Greek civilization was written into the history of civilization with its unique wave-warm atmosphere. Marx once thought that Greek civilization was a normal baby. In the process of development, the living soil of China culture gradually dried up and became unsuitable for agricultural production. Because soil and other factors are very unfavorable to agricultural production, the actual suffering can not produce cultural romance, so Chinese civilization runs through with its strong moral and abstinence characteristics. In the pre-Qin period, hundred schools of thought heckled each other and tried to achieve the same goal, with the aim of establishing an ideal world without struggle. But this is just an ideal. During the Warring States period, disputes among countries continued. Compared with their strength, Qin finally ruled the country by encouraging military exploits and rewarding farming, which is the aspiration of the people. The struggle between the world and how people live is also a historical choice. Only after reunification will there be no such situation as "how many people are kings and how many people are emperors". ? (Cao)

In the pre-Qin period, the Chu state in the south of China also showed romantic thoughts, but it was quickly enveloped and submerged by the realistic thoughts in the north. After Qin Shihuang unified China, all the books were in the same language, and the history after that was the history of the emperor's reunification. In order to maintain this unified situation, the feudal society in China allowed the king to have supreme authority, but at the same time gave him many feudal ethics constraints; China has the earliest civil service system in the world-the imperial examination system; In the history of China, there was an upright official named upright official, who was sung and worshipped as soon as he appeared. Therefore, although China has no religion in a strict sense, some of its characteristics are similar to religion, and it also has its own gods; If this phenomenon is also regarded as religion, then Chinese religion is extreme idealism in the realistic sense. The extreme idealism in the history of China also came into being, and it also had gods, but the gods it created were all incarnations of real people, and real people could not act as ideal gods. Therefore, in the history of China, until today, there have been endless movements of creating gods. In other words, the religion of China people is polytheism, not monotheism. God of Wealth, God of Medicine, God of Kitchen and Mazu are all worshipped as gods. There are two other characteristics of China culture: one is the absolute pursuit of application, and at the same time, everything that is not practical is put an end to. From the history of science and technology in China, we can see that all practical technologies in history, such as agricultural science and technology and medicine, are well developed, but some related non-practical things can't be developed. Mohist's knowledge of optics and geometry in the pre-Qin period failed to develop after Confucianism dominated in the Han Dynasty. There are no basic disciplines such as physics, chemistry and biology in China. Of course, in the process of the emperor's pursuit of immortality, alchemy is also very developed, which does contain chemical knowledge. China's handicraft industry is very developed, but modern machine industrial production such as steam engine was not invented by China. Before15th century, most of the world's inventions were made by China people, but modern science, which needed a series of experimental means after modern times, failed to be made in China. China culture showed unique characteristics of kindness. The core of Confucius' thought is "the benevolent loves others". Because of kindness, China people carry out the system of multi-child inheritance, which on the one hand can divide the property, on the other hand limits the long-distance migration, which is of great significance to the resettlement of China people. This inheritance system restricts the development of business, so the idea of having more children and more happiness comes into being. The concept of many children and many blessings has increased the population of the society, resulting in more children and many blessings. Social and demographic pressure has always existed. As long as the productive forces of society can support as many people, there will be as many people.

Many characteristics of China's food culture are embodied in the food culture, which directly affects the development of China's food culture. First of all, because of population pressure and other reasons, China people's diet began in the pre-Qin period, that is, food was the main food, with less meat and more food, supplemented by vegetables. This is a typical dietary structure. Among them, rice is the staple food, while vegetables are for the next meal, that is, to help rice swallow. Why should I help you swallow it? That's because the staple food is not delicious, and there must be a substance to help people eat it. Of course, the function of vegetables is similar to that of salt, but it is different from salt. The primary purpose of promoting China cooking this time is to decorate the diet and make the unpalatable food exquisite; Secondly, due to the pursuit of shirts in China culture and the developed handicraft industry in China, the food processing technology in cooking is second to none in the world, which embodies the characteristics of shirts in China culture. All these make China's food culture have the following characteristics. First, China's cooking technology is developed, and many things that westerners think can't be eaten become appetizing at first sight through the work of chefs in China. Second, China people have a wide range of recipes, and they are eating everything they can, without any taboos; Third, China has a lot of works about famine relief, in order to prepare wild vegetables to satisfy hunger in famine years; Fourthly, China people regard the pursuit of food as the greatest pleasure in life, and eating becomes the first demand. Because China people can't follow one's inclinations in diet, there are poems as evidence:

It's too late to patrol the red sun for days, and you will know the truth in your stomach.

It is not difficult to live a full life, only when the weather is favorable.

Therefore, eating is difficult to wear for a long time, so eating occupies a special position in China people's lives, and evidence emerges endlessly.

In addition, we can analyze some characteristics of western food culture, which may deepen our understanding of China food culture. In the western diet, animal husbandry was the mainstay at first, and the proportion of meat in the diet has always been high. In modern times, the proportion of cultivation has increased, but the proportion of meat in the diet is still higher than that of China people. Because meat is naturally delicious, there is no need for westerners to decorate their diet. The natural delicacy of internal food limits the development of cooking. When Europeans show off their wealth, they often show it with food tools, such as the number and luxury of various utensils. In addition, I don't pursue eating things that are easy to satisfy in life as the supreme happiness in life. Westerners' pursuit of life is exactly the same as a saying of China, which can be highly summarized as "full of warmth and lust". They pursue love more. Western culture embodies a kind of "love culture", while China culture embodies a kind of "eating culture".

However, we should also point out that many features of China's diet are invisible in the daily life of ordinary people. Palace diet and shop diet can better and more comprehensively show these characteristics. People's holiday diets, such as the Spring Festival, may partly show these characteristics, but after all, the Spring Festival is a flash in the pan in 365 days of the year.

There is no good or bad culture, and there is no good or bad food culture. The difference is only the difference in lifestyle or diet under different environmental conditions. But how to understand and analyze this difference is very important. The purpose of this book is to make an attempt based on this point, and it is not known whether it can be recognized by most readers. In most cases, I belong to the kind of "cook from afar", I don't know how to cook, and I'm not a gourmet, but I know that "a meal and a bowl of porridge are hard to come by". In this sense, I will write down some of my views on China's food culture, hoping to get suggestions from local authorities.

Reference book:

Food is the most important thing for the people-China's food culture

Introduction of Food Culture in China

On China's Dietary Culture

The development and prosperity of food culture in China is consistent with the development of the whole history of China. Taking China ancient food culture as an example, it is embodied in the following aspects: from the court to the folk, from the mainland to the frontier, from the nobility to the common people, the food style is prosperous, elegant and exquisite, and strange;

The prosperity of "eating"-there are many delicious foods and thousands of snacks, and the uniqueness and diversity of food styles and tastes in various places.

The art of "eating"-delicious food supplemented by exquisite utensils, pursues the harmony and unity of the three, and is seamless. Seasoned exquisite dishes, sumptuous meals and ingenious cooking skills are unique in the world.

The elegance of "eating"-the luxury of the royal banquet, the solemnity of the etiquette of the court banquet and food sacrifice, the strictness of the etiquette system and etiquette level, and the elegance of the banquet atmosphere.

The benefits of "eating"-the communication between officialdom and interpersonal relationship, the essence of dietotherapy, the effect of prolonging life, the effect of benefiting the heart and strengthening the body, are just the effect of treating hunger with illness.

The singularity of "eating"-the frontier beyond the Great Wall, with many nationalities and strange customs. The national food art, food style, food taste and unique artistic conception are wonderful works of minority culture.

On the one hand, as Yuan Mei, a famous writer, poet and gourmet in Qing Dynasty, said, China's diet culture in past dynasties is a "way of learning" that requires "foresight and mastery of various cooking skills"; On the other hand, he is also a "comprehensive art" with multiple cultural connotations such as diet, beauty etiquette, food enjoyment and diet.

I don't know if it's ok, please forgive me!