Chuantongmianshi Making Craftsmanship
01 · Historical Records
The craft of making Xi'an Jia San soup-filled steamed buns originated in the tenth year of the Guangxu reign of the Qing dynasty (1884 CE), when the first-generation inheritors, brothers Jia Yulin and Jia Yubao, founded a mantou shop in the Huimin (Muslim) Quarter of Xi'an, selling baked and steamed wheat-flour foods.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The craft of making Xi'an Jia San soup-filled steamed buns is one of the representative traditional Chinese wheat-flour food-making skills. Centered on Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province, it is widely practiced across Shaanxi, Ningxia, and Qinghai, and also spread to places such as Beijing, Tianjin, and Shenyang. Xi'an lies in the heart of the Guanzhong Plain of Shaanxi, with a warm-temperate, semi-humid monsoon climate, distinct four seasons, abundant produce, and a wide variety of ingredients. The Hui compatriots living in the northwest of the old city adopted the rich pastry ingredients of the Guanzhong and northwest regions and gradually blended them with the rich and refined pastry-making techniques of other ethnic groups, giving rise to the craft of Xi'an Jia San soup-filled steamed buns. The soup-filled buns are of excellent quality and fine craftsmanship, emphasizing nutrition and offering a rich, mellow aroma; they are an important vehicle of Hui culinary culture. The craft comprises six stages—broth-boiling, filling-grinding, wrapper-rolling, filling-wrapping, steaming, and sauce-mixing—and twenty-eight process steps. It has developed a distinctive body of skills and knowledge in selecting raw materials, simmering seasonings, the operational sequence, the tools used, the oral craft formulas, and dietary concepts. In selecting materials, the flour for wrappers, beef and mutton, seasonal vegetables, and auxiliary ingredients must all comply with dietary precepts, being carefully chosen for superior grade and fine quality. In preparation, one must strictly follow the family's orally transmitted operating formula: "pepper leads, salt follows, oil is not greasy, the taste is fragrant, the dough is soft, observe three colors, the shape is full, the pleats are sufficient, the base does not drop, vinegar comes to the fore, the dip is flavorful, one spoon of soup." The finished soup-filled buns are renowned far and wide for their paper-thin wrappers, chewy yet tender texture, tender filling holding broth, and richly aromatic dipping sauce. The creation and transmission of the Jia San soup-filled bun craft is a vivid reflection of the historical fusion of the Hui and Han peoples, and a historical crystallization and living testament to the cultural exchange along the Belt and Road.
Archived Records of Process Steps
The craft comprises six stages—broth-boiling, filling-grinding, wrapper-rolling, filling-wrapping, steaming, and sauce-mixing—and twenty-eight process steps, forming a distinctive system of skills and knowledge in selecting raw materials, simmering seasonings, the operational sequence, the tools used, the oral craft formulas, and dietary concepts.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
This craft is exquisite and stands as one of the most locally distinctive symbols of Shaanxi's culinary culture.
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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
For over a century, the craft has been transmitted mainly through family and master–apprentice lineages; on the basis of oral teaching and personal instruction, its core skills are mastered through aptitude and practical experience. The craft has a stable body of inheritors with a clear transmission lineage and a broad base of practitioners and audiences; it currently has two fourth-generation and two fifth-generation inheritors. "Jia San Soup-Filled Buns" was recognized as one of the first batch of China Time-Honored Brands, and now has four branch shops in the Huimin Quarter of Xi'an and other places such as Beijing. It reflects the dietary concepts and business philosophy of China's Hui compatriots and their knowledge and practice in relating humans to plants and animals, and holds reference value for studying Chinese Hui culinary culture and the history of ethnic fusion and exchange.
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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