Chuantongmianshi Making Craftsmanship
01 · Historical Records
The Jishan area is where Hou Ji taught the people to farm and plant the five grains, and one of the birthplaces of China's traditional agriculture lies here. As a kind of pastry, the forming and frying of mahua (fried dough twist) shares much in common between southern Shanxi and the Guanzhong area; Jishan mahua became popular in southern Shanxi and, along with trade routes and population movement, crossed Guanzhong and became popular around Xi'an. The wheat quality of southern Shanxi and Guanzhong is similar, yet the reason Jishan mahua can stand on its own lies in the local water, wheat, oil, and the secret, generationally transmitted proportion formula. Jishan's "Zhao Family Siwei Fang" has, through six generations of unremitting effort, always adhered to the most traditional proportion formula and production steps; its forming method mainly consists of twisting the strips to build tension, dividing on the board and scoring the rows, and twisting into shape, belonging to the northern pastry trade's approach of winning through manual shaping.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Among them, the Jishan "Zhao Family Siwei Fang" mahua, with its traditional craft of refined ingredients and meticulous workmanship, stands alone and is renowned across Shaanxi and Shanxi, representing Jishan mahua. The mahua fried by "Zhao Family Siwei Fang" mainly has four textures and various flavors: "Five-Grain Fragrance," "Refreshing Sweet," "Melt-in-Mouth Crisp," and "Homely Crunch." "Five-Grain Fragrance" is long-lasting in aroma and beneficial to the intellect; "Refreshing Sweet" is sweet but not greasy; "Melt-in-Mouth Crisp" is crisp yet tender; "Homely Crunch" is crisp yet chewy. The making of "Zhao Family Siwei Fang" mahua goes through eighteen process steps: cultivating the leaven block, adding water and incorporating the starter, dividing and incorporating the starter by proportion, adding water to knead and adding oil to knead, dividing the dough, repeated kneading, evenly pinching off dough pieces, oiling the pieces, storing in the vat, twisting the strips to build tension, dividing on the board and scoring the rows, twisting into shape, frying in the wok, adding auxiliary materials, draining oil out of the wok, setting and arranging, dissolving and simmering the sugar syrup, and turning and shaping. Jishan is where Hou Ji taught the people to farm and plant the five grains, one of the birthplaces of China's traditional agriculture, with a food culture of long standing. Jishan's "Zhao Family Siwei Fang" has, through six generations of unremitting effort, always adhered to the most traditional proportion formula and traditional production steps.
Archival Record of Process Steps
The making of "Zhao Family Siwei Fang" mahua goes through eighteen process steps: cultivating the leaven block, adding water and incorporating the starter, dividing and incorporating the starter by proportion, adding water to knead and adding oil to knead, dividing the dough, repeated kneading, evenly pinching off dough pieces, oiling the pieces, storing in the vat, twisting the strips to build tension, dividing on the board and scoring the rows, twisting into shape, frying in the wok, adding auxiliary materials, draining oil out of the wok, setting and arranging, dissolving and simmering the sugar syrup, and turning and shaping.
Culturing the starter
The friable texture begins with a well-kept starter, whose vigour determines whether the dough stays lively through repeated kneading.
Mixing water and oil into the dough
Water and oil are worked in in a fixed order; oil after water gives flakiness, oil before water gives strength.
Repeated kneading and even portioning
After repeated kneading the dough is pinched into even portions, which keeps every piece identically done in the fryer.
Greasing the pieces and resting them in the jar
Greased pieces are stacked in jars to rest until the oil works into the centre, which is what later makes the twists flaky.
Rolling strands and dividing the board
Rolling the strands and giving them tension, then dividing the board and marking sections, fixes the length and thickness of every twist.
Twisting and deep-frying
The marked strips are twisted, fried, drained and dressed, with heat and turning producing flakiness without scorching.
The four tastes of the shop
The shop turns out four distinct textures—long-scented, sweet-not-cloying, flaky-within, and crisp-with-spring.
Cooking sugar syrup and final shaping
The last of the eighteen stages: sugar syrup is cooked, the twists are turned and shaped, and the glaze is set.
Wang Qing'i's family rule
The fifth-generation inheritor follows the family rule that only first-sifted flour and first-press oil may be used, and has modernised the brand while training apprentices.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Jishan mahua is a traditional food popular in the southern Shanxi region and around Xi'an, Shaanxi, usually divided into oil-crisp mahua and ordinary dry mahua.
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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Wang Qing'ai (as recorded in the official inheritor archive): female, Han ethnicity, born in April 1961, from Jishan County, Shanxi Province. Representative inheritor of the fourth national-level batch of the traditional pasta-making craft (Jishan traditional pastry-making craft), a national-level intangible cultural heritage item. Fifth-generation transmitter of the Jishan traditional pastry-making craft. Through repeated practice and exchange and study with local veteran technicians, she has proficiently mastered every link and key technique of mahua making; she operates rigorously in accordance with the ancestral precept "never scoop anything but first-sifted flour, never stir anything but first-pressed oil" and the eighteen traditional process steps, and has replaced the old family-workshop production model, combining the ancestral craft with modern technology to develop the "Siwei Fang" brand mahua series, expanding production scale. Starting in 2005, she began recruiting apprentices, absorbing members of the public into training, and periodically selecting outstanding students of comprehensive quality to attend various exhibitions and exchange-and-study activities, carrying forward the Jishan mahua traditional craft.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Wang Qingai 04-1907
- Li Huizhong 05-2858
- Li Jiangang 05-2859
- Jia Zhiliang
- Rexiti Yimiti
- Hatamusha Nuer
- Yu Zhenling
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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