Chuantongmianshi Making Craftsmanship
01 · Historical Records
The Tatar traditional pastry craft blends the culinary traits of European peoples; it was brought to Xinjiang from Central Asia by the Tatar people in the 19th century.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Tatar traditional pastry craft is a traditional culinary craft handed down through generations by the Tatar people. The Tatar people in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region are mainly scattered in towns such as Yining, Tacheng, and Urumqi, as well as other agricultural and pastoral areas. The Tatar traditional pastry craft mainly spreads in Tacheng City and radiates to surrounding areas; the city lies on the northwestern border of the motherland and is an outpost for China's access to Central Asia and a meeting place of Eastern and Western ethnic cultures. Tatar women are renowned far and wide for their superb cooking skills and their adeptness at making various baked cakes and pastries. The pastries they make are delicious, of many varieties, and beautifully shaped. In making pastries, they stress not using additives and spices, pursue top-grade pure-natural ingredients, achieve meat-vegetable pairing, combine staple and auxiliary, and keep the original flavor. In Tatar traditional pastries, ingredients such as cheese, honey, milk, jam, and cream always dominate; making various pastries with these ingredients has become a tradition. In addition, there are pastries of rich variety including bahali, tort, pirok, and chak-chak. The Tatar traditional pastry places great stress on aesthetic beauty, paying attention to coordinating color, aroma, taste, shape, and vessel, giving a special enjoyment of high unity of spirit and matter. The habit of making pastries has merged into Tatar families; not only women but also men often take part, and almost every Tatar household builds an earthen oven for baking various pastries. The Tatar traditional pastry craft is part of China's traditional culinary culture, provides reference for studying Tatar traditional culture and Tatar traditional dietary culture, is a historical witness to the exchange, fusion, and mutual complementarity of Eastern and Western traditional cultures, and also plays a positive role in building Tacheng's characteristic regional culture, promoting interaction, exchange, and fusion among ethnic groups, enhancing ethnic unity, and fostering social harmony.
No additives or flavourings
No additives or spices: only pure natural ingredients, balanced meat and vegetables, keeping the original flavour.
The home oven built of clay blocks
Almost every Tatar household builds a clay-block oven, men as well as women bake, so the craft stays inside the home.
Cheese, honey, milk and jam
Cheese, honey, milk, jam and cream dominate the pastry tradition, giving it a distinctly dairy-forward character.
Bahali, tuoerte, piluoke and qiaqeqiaq
Names such as bahali, tuoerte, piluoke and qiaqeqiaq, largely of Central Asian origin, record what the nineteenth-century migration brought in.
Six stuffed pastries
Six stuffed forms are distinguished by name, with fillings of mutton, beef, duck, chicken or vegetables.
Four generations of inheritors
Four documented generations of inheritors have kept the craft alive through food workshops and by teaching the wider community.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The Tatar traditional pastries with filling are divided into 6 kinds: kabak biliksi, qibi biliksi, uleshi biliksi, bai'er biliksi, remuqike biliksi, and bakebai biliksi; the fillings include mutton, beef, duck, chicken, and vegetarian.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Chuantongmianshi Making Craftsmanship · Chuantongmianshi Making Craftsmanship · Chuantongmianshi Making Craftsmanship · Chuantongmianshi Making Craftsmanship · Chuantongmianshi Making Craftsmanship · Chuantongmianshi Making Craftsmanship · Chuantongmianshi Making Craftsmanship · Chuantongmianshi Making Craftsmanship · Chuantongmianshi Making Craftsmanship · Chuantongmianshi Making Craftsmanship · Chuantongmianshi Making Craftsmanship · Chuantongmianshi Making Craftsmanship · Chuantongmianshi Making Craftsmanship · Chuantongmianshi Making Craftsmanship · Chuantongmianshi Making Craftsmanship.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
At present, verifiable inheritors of the Tatar traditional pastry craft have reached 4 generations; through production and practice they transmit the craft and have made positive contributions to the project's transmission and spread by establishing food workshops and actively teaching the pastry-making techniques to others.
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)
This static English edition is rendered at the edge for search engines, AI crawlers and readers without JavaScript; it mirrors the bilingual dossier. 阅读中文版，或返回 英文名录。