Zhang Zhijun
01 · Lineage & Regional School
Zhang Zhijun, Male, Han, from Nanjing, Jiangsu, is a sixth-batch national representative bearer of Sushi Making Craftsmanship (Ⅷ-164). The tradition is documented in Nanjing, Jiangsu. Within the regional tradition and school record of Sushi Making Craftsmanship in Nanjing, Jiangsu: The islets of Jiangxinzhou and Baguazhou, with their shoals and sandy lowlands, have since ancient times been given mainly to vegetable cultivation, providing the vegetarian cooking with uniquely favorable natural conditions and high-quality raw materials. In the Nanjing area, ordinary households also cook vegetarian food, with a fairly high degree of public participation. The Lüliuju vegetarian cuisine cooking craft is a traditional vegetarian-making craft circulated in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, and the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, founded in Nanjing and radiating to surrounding areas. The Lüliuju vegetarian restaurant was founded in the late Qing dynasty in the then-fu city of Jiangning Prefecture, characterized by operating vegetarian dishes, and formed and inherited its cooking craft. Counting from Chen Bingyu, who laid an important foundation for the craft's formation and development during the Guangxu reign of the Qing dynasty, there have been five generations of inheritors to this day.
02 · Mastery & Signature Works
The bearer record for Zhang Zhijun is anchored in the documented technical standards of Sushi Making Craftsmanship in Nanjing, Jiangsu. Within the documented technical tradition of Sushi Making Craftsmanship in Nanjing, Jiangsu: The ancient city of Nanjing lies on the bank of the Yangtze River, in a north-subtropical humid climate, with distinct four seasons and abundant rainfall; within the city it is embraced by mountains and wound through by rivers and lakes. The Lüliuju vegetarian cuisine cooking craft stresses the use of vegetarian raw materials such as vegetables, fungi, and soy products, processed through manual techniques of wrapping, stacking, rubbing, pounding, pinching, and rolling, and using dozens of cooking methods such as frying, quick-frying with sauce, quick-frying, stir-frying, steaming, boiling, and scalding, to make various delicious dishes. The craft uses Jiangnan's abundant vegetables, fungi, and soy products as raw materials, stressing season, quality, and freshness, making good use of local specialties such as chrysanthemum greens, wolfberry sprouts, osmanthus sprouts, and nuts, and selecting different raw materials according to the dish variety and even the season. Its cooking process is refined, and its shaping lifelike. It organically combines Jinling's handmade vegetarian cuisine with the rich culinary skills of the Jiangnan region, with fine knife work and emphasis on variation, mostly using methods such as frying, quick-frying with sauce, quick-frying, and stir-frying, characterized by original flavor, freshness, tenderness, crispness, and fragrance. It excels at using characteristic methods to draw stock for umami, able to draw both red and white umami stocks from entirely vegetarian materials; it is also good at the manual skill of "supporting meat with vegetarian," making pictographic and shaped dishes such as vegetarian knife fish, vegetarian beef, and eight-treasure duck, achieving "whatever meat has, vegetarian has," with shapes and flavors similar to meat dishes, able to pass as the real thing. The traditional vegetarian cooking craft is relatively completely preserved by Lüliuju. On the basis of inheriting ancient Chinese vegetarian cooking craft, and combined with Nanjing's local culture, customs, products, and natural conditions, Lüliuju vegetarian cuisine cooking formed its own distinctive craft style. This craft is a principal representative of the traditional processing craft of Jiangnan-area vegetarian products, and its cooking process and cultural connotation reflect the diversity of China's traditional vegetarian cooking craft. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Wrapping, folding, rolling and shaping": Vegetables, fungi and bean products are worked by wrapping, folding, rolling and shaping before they become dishes. "Dozens of cooking methods": Dozens of methods—frying, swivelling, quick-frying, stir-frying, steaming, boiling and blanching—give vegetable ingredients the savoury character of meat dishes. "Vegetables shaped to look like meat": Vegetable dishes are shaped to resemble fish, beef or eight-treasure duck, so that wherever meat is served there is its vegetarian counterpart. "Vegetable stocks, clear and red": The kitchen can draw clear and red stocks from vegetable ingredients alone, giving two different foundations for a banquet.
Wrapping, folding, rolling and shaping
Vegetables, fungi and bean products are worked by wrapping, folding, rolling and shaping before they become dishes.
Dozens of cooking methods
Dozens of methods—frying, swivelling, quick-frying, stir-frying, steaming, boiling and blanching—give vegetable ingredients the savoury character of meat dishes.
Vegetables shaped to look like meat
Vegetable dishes are shaped to resemble fish, beef or eight-treasure duck, so that wherever meat is served there is its vegetarian counterpart.
Vegetable stocks, clear and red
The kitchen can draw clear and red stocks from vegetable ingredients alone, giving two different foundations for a banquet.
03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status
In 2025, Zhang Zhijun was announced in the sixth batch of national representative bearers for Sushi Making Craftsmanship, with Nanjing, Jiangsu as the declared area. Within the documented safeguarding record of Sushi Making Craftsmanship in Nanjing, Jiangsu: The project was inscribed in the national inventory in 2021 (batch 5), with Nanjing, Jiangsu as its declared area, and Nanjing Jin DouYinShi Service Co., Ltd. as its safeguarding unit. Since the project was inscribed in the national inventory, its declared area and safeguarding unit have carried out documentation, transmission and presentation within the national safeguarding framework. Together, the inventory record and the project archive form the public documentary basis for the bearer’s transmission practice.
04 · Associated Heritage Item Dossier
Historical origin
The Lüliuju vegetarian cuisine cooking craft is a traditional vegetarian-making craft circulated in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, and the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, founded in Nanjing and radiating to surrounding areas. The Lüliuju vegetarian restaurant was founded in the late Qing dynasty in the then-fu city of Jiangning Prefecture, characterized by operating vegetarian dishes, and formed and inherited its cooking craft. Counting from Chen Bingyu, who laid an important foundation for the craft's formation and development during the Guangxu reign of the Qing dynasty, there have been five generations of inheritors to this day.
05 · Fellow National Bearers Lineage
National representative bearers recorded under the same item code, ordered from the first to the sixth batch. Batch order is not a teacher–student relationship.
| Bearer | Declared area | Roster code | Relation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zhao Youming | Shanghaigongdelinsushiyouxiangongsi | 03-1427 | Other regional school |
| Zhang Zhijun | Nanjing, Jiangsu | — | This page |
06 · Archival Sources & Bibliography
This static English edition is rendered at the edge for search engines, AI crawlers and readers without JavaScript. Compiled from official national representative bearer archival records and the associated project dossier, organized by topic and translated into English. 阅读中文版。