Do Cantonese people come to Chaoshan just to eat delicious food? In fact, it has a more attractive side

Speaking of Chaoshan, students must be very familiar with this place. In the vast land of Guangzhou, Chaoshan people occupy a large area. Walking on the road, one of the ten shops is owned by a Chaoshan boss.

In Guangzhou, which has strict food requirements, Chaoshan has a solid position. But apart from the food, it seems that we can’t say anything about it anymore. Who among us can remember that Shantou is also one of the country’s first special economic zones besides Shenzhen? (Students who are good at history, please take a detour)

▲See all the scenery of Chaoshan in 3 minutes, taken in Chaozhou. Author/Guo Jinpeng, Lu Lianyu, Li Runyu

Chaoshan, many students mistakenly think it refers to a certain place. In fact, Chaoshan includes the three major areas of Chaozhou, Shantou and Jieyang today. These three places are closely adjacent and located in the east of Guangzhou. They are independent from Guangfu represented by Guangzhou and form a unique Chaoshan culture.

Chaoshan is half surrounded by sea water and occupies a superior geographical location. It has been a port for maritime trade since ancient times and is rich in seaside resources. Many outsiders come here to taste the rich and fertile seafood.

However, students who come here may be a little disappointed. The dilapidated residential buildings on both sides of the street make you doubtful about this city. But students, please savor it carefully. This city is actually very powerful, and every step hides the trajectory of its past history.

▲A shopping mall on the streets of Shantou

01

Shengwei Guojiao

"Shengwei Guojiao" is a Chaoshan people's favorite A taunt of his own. Chaoshan is surrounded by mountains on three sides, forming a natural barrier from the outside world. Due to the inconvenient transportation here, both Cantonese and Hakka people cannot understand the Chaoshan dialect at all.

Fortunately, this place faces the sea, and from north to south there are the Japanese Islands, the Korean Peninsula, Taiwan Island and the Nansha Islands. Not far away are neighboring countries that also border the ocean: Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, and Malaysia. Chaoshan and them together form a marine world with close communication.

▲The cross-sea bridge connecting Shantou City to Nan'ao County, with a total length of 11.08 kilometers

In the Ming Dynasty, the "sea pirates" who fled along the Chaozhou coast and the anti-Qing patriots in the late Ming Dynasty, A lot of it flows to various places in Southeast Asia. During the early Qing Dynasty when the ban on sea border relocation was implemented, a large number of Chaozhou poor people ventured overseas and settled in various parts of Southeast Asia. Most of them traveled along the coast of Guangdong and Guangxi to Vietnam, Cambodia and other places. For example, Zheng Yong, the father of the King of Thonburi Dynasty in Thailand in the 18th century, "Zhao Taksin", was from Huafu Village in Chenghai. He sailed there on a sailing ship during the Yongzheng period. Siamese.

▲The Temple of King Arun located in downtown Bangkok was built under the order of King Taksin of the Thonburi Dynasty at that time

Because it is located in a barren mountainous area with no roads accessible, and The power of centralized power cannot reach Chaoshan, a place with high mountains and far away emperors. It has always been regarded as a place of externalization. With dense mountains and forests, hordes of wild animals, and crocodiles roaming the Han River, Chaoshan became the best place for officials to be demoted. The Tang Dynasty poet, Han Xin, was one of the chosen ones.

Han Xin, who was exiled to Chaozhou, made great efforts as soon as he arrived, driving away crocodiles, building schools, and caring for people's livelihood. Although he only stayed in Chaozhou for 7 months, he had a great influence on the people of Chaozhou. In order to commemorate Han Xin's contribution to the local people, people in Chaozhou renamed the evil stream where Han Yu sacrificed crocodiles to Hanjiang, renamed Dongshan Mountain as Hanshan, and built the Han Wen Gong Temple east of Guangji Bridge.

▲Guangji Bridge, a famous cultural tourism destination in Chaozhou, was built in 1171 AD in the Southern Song Dynasty

02

There is God in the Heart

The incense in Chaoshan area is very strong, and there are always new temples or ancestral halls in the area.

The Buddha statues placed inside come from various sacred places. There are the Mother of Heaven and Earth, the Jade Emperor, the Ancestor of Hongyun, the Patriarch of the Sanqing Dynasty, the Emperor Dongyue, the Queen Mother, the God of Wealth, as well as the sages, loyal ministers, heroes and other loyal ministers and righteous men of the past dynasties.

▲Most of the people who come to worship are Chaoshan women, praying for the men in their families who go out to work

There are gods in every village and shrines in every house. Putting aside superstition, this sense of ritual is particularly important in an age when it is easy to lose oneself.

▲An event called "Business" is being held in the Chaozhou ancestral hall, and the picture shows the sacrifices. Photography/Lu Lianyu

Buddha is the god who saves all living beings. In the Chaoshan area, the ninth day of the first lunar month every year is the "Tiangong Christmas" (Tiangong is also known as the Jade Emperor). On this day, every household will prepare sugar and vegetarian dishes as sacrifices, and burn "Dabao", "Tiangong" and "Tiangong". "Gong Jin" to pray for peace in this world.

On the first and fifteenth day of each month of the lunar calendar, women in every household in Chaoshan must worship the Kitchen God, using fruits and biscuits as sacrifices. Chaoshan women pay homage to the Kitchen God. They are very respectful. They think that breaking bowls in the kitchen, stealing food, swearing and swearing are all disrespectful to the Kitchen God.

No matter what god it is, Chaoshan people are very particular about their heart when worshiping. Sincerity means sincerity, thinking that only in this way can the gods hear and bless you.

▲?Jieyang holds a grand folk event, the Torch Festival, every New Year. Photography/Xiao Yunfeng

< p> ▲? Burning pagodas during the Mid-Autumn Festival in Jieyang.

Photography/Xiao Yunfeng

On important festivals, worshiping at home is not grand enough, so people in Chaoshan still hold "tourist temple fairs". At the beginning of every new year, several young men will invite the patron saint of their respective villages and towns out of the temple, and carry the patron saint (the patron saint) in a procession throughout the village. Everywhere they go, people will worship. Send it back to the temple to continue worshiping.

According to local people, the purpose of doing this is to pray for the Lord to bless the villagers' safety and prosperity.

▲? The Youshen Game in Jieyang. Picture/Visual China

03

Clan Culture

The people of Chaoshan who go out to explore have become particularly united. In any industry, you can definitely find a group of bosses with the same surname who support each other. A company must have a group of peripheral merchants who are related by blood to each other. In Southeast Asia, there is a Chaoshan gang everywhere you go, which is where they gather in other places.

▲? Shantou Small Park. Photography/Brother No. 2 Middle School

Why are the people of Chaoshan so united?

Chaoshan is close to the sea. It has historically been a land of southern barbarians and has been subject to natural disasters such as typhoons and floods all year round. With limited medical conditions, life is so small. When the life and death of the tribesmen are tied to each other, they become a powerful force with the same hatred and hatred.

In addition to geographical factors, there are also very important reasons that come from clan factors. The people of Chaoshan live far away from home because of their livelihood. No matter whether they succeed or fail, they will always remember the advice of their elders and remember where their roots are.

▲Li Ka-shing, the richest man in Hong Kong, was born in Chaoan County, Chaozhou

In the minds of Chaoshan people, clan is their strong backing. In the old days, when the Hakka people fought over land disputes, people from the same clan would unite to deal with people from another clan. It is precisely because of the power of the clan that the Chaoshan people have overcome natural and man-made disasters one after another, forming a kind of hard-to-replicate tradition. personality.

▲? Zhongshan Road, Chaozhou City, praying for blessings and worshiping gods during the lively activities. Photography/Lu Lianyu

04

Daily diet

Today, Chaoshan cuisine is highly praised by people all over the world. When it comes to "eating", the people of Chaoshan are not careless at all.

If you rely on the mountains to eat the mountains, if you rely on the sea to eat the sea, Chaoshan can eat both mountain delicacies and seafood. Rich in products, Chaoshan people who deal with various ingredients are very picky about food. They pay attention to seasonality and freshness, and try to eat the food at the freshest time to maintain the original "fresh" taste of the food.

▲Cut each part of a cow into slices for later use

Bai Mi is a kind of white porridge in Chaoshan. Although it is just a bowl of white porridge, there are many side dishes beyond your imagination. Sour pickles, pickles, dried radish, small fish larvae, pickled cucumber sprouts, pickled shrimps, olives, salted eggs, olive greens, salted dried peanuts, fried peanuts...all kinds of salty, sour and sweet flavors. Therefore, a bowl of Chaoshan white porridge is like an emperor, with three thousand beauties in the harem to serve him.

▲? Chaoshan midnight snack, also called night rice. Picture/"The Flavor World"

Speaking of kueh, students must be familiar with it. No matter which store you enter, there are bound to be various types of kueh on the menu.

Kueh is made of different proportions of rice flour, glutinous rice flour, wheat flour, and potato flour, and different fillings are added to make each delicious food.

▲A type of rice cake, the picture comes from the Internet

▲? Various rice cakes sold daily, choose the enemy of phobia. Photography/Er Dongchen

Kueh juice, Chaoshan’s delicacies are inseparable from “kueh”. This kind of rice cake is similar to the rice noodles we usually eat, but the choice of ingredients is dazzling. There will be a pile of ingredients placed in front of the store for you to choose from. There are oysters, beef, fish balls, pork, pork offal, and various fungi and vegetables, etc. You can choose a few of them to add to the rice noodles handmade by Chaoshan people, and a bowl of kueh juice with your own taste will be freshly baked. .

▲A famous barley rice cake shop in downtown Shantou. It contains barley, which has dehumidifying and whitening effects. Picture/Network

05

Fighting spirit

There is a very popular saying in Guangdong: To marry a Chaoshan woman, don’t marry a Chaoshan man. In Chaoshan, the idea of ??favoring boys over girls is very strong. In a family, the male leads the outside and the female leads the inside. Chaoshan men have taken on the burden of supporting the family very early.

The men here have known since they were young that they are at home all over the world, just like their ancestors, who have never left their hometown to work hard outside. The closest they have traveled may be the Pearl River Delta area in Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and the farthest they have traveled overseas to Southeast Asia and even Europe.

▲? The daily life of Chaoshan residents. Zhuo Mansion in the picture is a private residence. Photography/Brother No. 2 Middle School

But no matter how far they travel, Chaoshan people’s longing for seafood will not change, their longing for their family will not change, and their yearning for a free future will not change.

PS/

When I first arrived in Shantou, the city looked a bit old and simple.

Perhaps it is precisely because there is no innate resource advantage that people in Chaoshan have no choice but to go out to work hard. It is precisely because of this that the Chaoshan people have the spirit of daring to fight and venture forward, and many Chaoshan people have created a wonderful world overseas.