Escape to a Lovely Tang Market: mouse embryos, insects and 28 flavors of water...

Cute couple at the gates of Yong Xing Fang Market

One nice thing about living in Xi’an is a simple walk can turn into a history lesson. Nowhere is this truer than when you find yourself walking along the city walls. For example, Yong Xing Fang market is about 500 yards from the East gate of the old city walls.  It is a truly charming spot.  Approximately a single city block, it is crammed with old-style food stalls and picnic tables, performers, kids, and every kind of food imaginable. Each stall sells a Xi’an specialty – noodles, soup, dumplings, shredded meat sandwiches, sweet nutty candy like peanut brittle --  it is all there. Built in 2015, the whole block celebrates Shaanxi’s food heritage.

Cotton Candy,
like you've never seen before

In China’s Golden Age, Charles Benn writes about everyday life in the Tang Dynasty (Oxford UP, 2001).  The Tang dynasty lasted about 300 years, from 600-900AD, and was a time of Chinese expansion.  The country stretched from Inner Mongolia (just north of us, in Xi’an) to Vietnam, and from the Pacific Ocean to Tibet.  The dynasty had a large aristocracy that ate well, even when food was scarce.  One of the main reasons this was possible was because trade from the Silk Road brought money, spices, new culinary experiences, and new ways to serve and preserve food. Merchants, peasants, farmers, and poets all were a vital part to this thriving empire.

Beautiful Candy made out of sugar

In an article about food from the Tang Dynasty, Jacqueline Newman writes of the variety of food available. A whole paragraph is dedicated to the different kinds of water served during the time – 28 varieties of plain water and many other flavored ones:    “Water made after boiling various fresh or dried fruits alone or in multiple varieties, waters with powdered fruits, waters cooked with minerals, etc. There was even a water, not to be tried any more, cooked with walnut meal and white lead. Although this item is now known to be poisonous, they said it cured baldness.” *

Spinning the candy

Dragon Candy

Candy makers

Milk was also surprisingly common – from cows, horses, goats and water buffalo—as was wine. Grains, vegetables, fruit, and every part of the animal was all open to consumption:  “Meats were fresh and domesticated, but not eaten in large quantities except at formal/feast meals. The common ones were pork and lamb, cow and ox, chicken, pheasant and partridge. They consumed marmots, reptiles, unusual mammals including the elephant and monkey, rodents such as unborn mice stuffed with honey, and insects, including hornets, ant eggs, etc.”*

Welcome year of the rat!

Not surprisingly, food was a common poetry topic.  One, by Li Shen --“Toiling Farmers” -- is commonly recited to remind kids not to waste food:

Toiling Farmers

Farmers weeding at noon,
Sweat drips on the soil. 
Who knows that every grain in the bowl

Is the fruit of so much pain and toil?

锄禾日当午，

(Chú hé rì dāng wǔ,)

汗滴禾下土。

(hàn dī hé xià tǔ.)

谁知盘中餐，

(Sheí zhī pán zhōng cān,)

粒粒皆辛苦。

(lì lì jiē xīn kǔ)

In the market, this waste is a real concern.  When Dave and I visited with friends, every time we stopped to admire a particular breed of green or purple noodle, rice cake or twisted bread, the friend would buy us a bag of the admired food.  By the end, both Dave and I were trying not to look at anything.  The food was so cheap, and smelled so good, it was far too easy to walk away with too many bags of food, the fruits of other’s toil…粒粒皆辛苦。

A tradition:  Drink a glass of wine from a bowl,
Throw away your troubles
 by breaking it in a pile by the wall

*                        *                      *

Murals at the market

Sylvia, one of my Monday afternoon writing students, wrote of the rich history of Xi’an in a lovely meditation on the walls.  Interestingly she started, looking for the Yong Xing Fang market, but instead falls in love the walls, themselves.  

Here is her beautiful description paper that I think nicely captures the way you feel in Xi’an: 

“It is at least 8 months since my first visit to Xi’an City Wall.  It was a rainy day. Getting off the bus at Zhong Shan Men station, I was intended to visit the Yong Xing Fang, a food street constructed on the ruins of Tang dynasty., however, I was attracted by the ancient and simple city wall nearby.  It is truly a tranquil place which is so unique in the urban city, especially in contrast with the noisy and crowded Yong Xing Fang.”

Xi’an city wall was rebuilt in Ming dynasty and on the site of the Tang dynasty’s city wall. While other cities have dismantled their city walls because of industrialization and urbanization. Xi’an City Wall was completely preserved and enjoys great fame across our country.

On the whole, the city wall is made of black and large stones. Some stones are carved with ancient characters, some look damaged and some are newly repaired. It’s about 12 to 14 meters wide and approximately 12 meters high. The total length measures 13.74 kilometers long.

         While walking on the city wall, I could smell the fresh air mixed with earth and I could see some couples talking in low tones, some aged people jogging slowly as if they are recalling their youth and the old city, and some adolescents cycling on the wall. If you look down, you will be amazed at the wild grass and flowers. How could they grow up through the cracks of the stones! As I walking along the wall, I put my hands on the cold and tough walls and a strange feeling hit me. At that time, I thought I went into the Qing dynasty as if I witnessed first-hand the soldiers fighting aggressively to protect their people and their freedom, as if I witnessed the ancient people’s happiness and sadness. Around a thousand had passed, and almost everything had changed totally. However, the city wall still stands there firmly and straightly like a loyal and brave soldier who is lining up for his breath of honor and responsibility.

In my viewpoint, this may be the significance of the relics. They are neither beautiful nor useful. However, they carry the history and memory and the virtues of a nation.  And most importantly, it is a perfect place for us to self-examine if we are too hurry and if we still remember our original intention in such a fast-changing society.

Whether seeking a noxious cure for baldness, stuffed mouse embryo or just a quiet escape on the Xi’an walls – all is possible in my adopted city.

* Jacqueline M. Newman.  “Tang Dynasty:  Foods and Food Behaviors.”  Food in History (Summer: 2006 13(2), pp.13-5). http://www.flavorandfortune.com/dataaccess/article.php?ID=564