Douyichushaomai Making Craftsmanship
01 · Historical Records
The Beijing Du Yichu old shop was founded in the third year of the Qianlong reign of the Qing dynasty (1738). It began as a small wine shop, 'Wang Ji Wine Shop,' opened by Wang Ruifu, a native of Shanxi; in the seventeenth year of the Qianlong reign (1752) it was renamed 'Du Yichu,' mainly selling shaomai (steamed dumplings). Since the 1980s, Du Yichu has successively developed tonic varieties of shaomai such as hawthorn shaomai, 'Yipinhong' shaomai, and goji-berry shaomai, and has also innovated its craft to produce specialty shaomai such as two-tone, multicolored, emerald, and mint shaomai.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
In the course of several hundred years of development, Du Yichu has formed a complete set of exquisite shaomai-making craft, of which the dough-rolling craft is truly a marvel: every sheet of shaomai wrapper rolled out has exactly 24 pleats. Du Yichu offers more varieties of shaomai than any other establishment in the country — the only one of its kind. The old shop first became famous for pork-, beef-, vegetarian-, and 'three-fresh' (pork, sea cucumber, shrimp) fillings, and later, according to the changes of the seasons, added seafood fillings such as fish, crab, and shrimp, as well as 'four-seasons' shaomai made with pork as the base, variously paired with cabbage, Chinese chives, fennel, pumpkin, scallion, and zucchini. At the same time, it actively enriched the shaomai flavors, launching more than a dozen series and over thirty varieties spanning sour, sweet, salty, fresh, aromatic, and spicy. The wheat-ear crown at the top of the shaomai has 24 pleats, like a slender waist with layered skirts; the wrapper is thin and reveals the filling, blue-white and translucent, standing gracefully upright. Eaten, it is fragrant yet not greasy, with an endless aftertaste. The shaomai made by Du Yichu has successively won such honors as first place in the National Cooking Competition, the 'Golden Tripod Award,' and 'Famous Chinese Snack,' and the Du Yichu old shop has also been awarded the title of 'Famous Chinese Food and Drink Shop.'
Rolling the skin into twenty-four pleats
The most demanding stage: each sheet must be rolled into twenty-four pleats gathered at the top like an ear of wheat, thin enough for the filling colour to show through.
The sanxian filling and seasonal pairings
The original range covered pork, beef, vegetable and a pork-shrimp-sea-cucumber sanxian filling; seafood and twelve seasonal pork pairings were added later.
Hawthorn and goji fillings
Hawthorn, premium goji and similar tonic fillings introduced a food-as-medicine logic into the shop and turned a seasonal snack into an all-year item.
Two-tone, coloured, jade and mint skins
These variants turn on the dough skin itself rather than the filling; the same pleating skill is converted into a visible selling point.
A dozen flavour series
Over a dozen series and thirty-odd varieties, the shop treats seasoning as an expandable catalogue, one flavour at a time.
From Wang's wine shop to Duyichu
Founded in 1738 as Wang's wine shop and renamed Duyichu in 1752, the business switched from wine to shaomai and built a reputation on one type of dough food.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Du Yichu shaomai made its name in Beijing, yet its undertones carry the old approach of Shanxi merchants making snacks: the founder, Wang Ruifu, was a native of Shanxi who opened a small wine shop where wine, rice, and noodles were sold together across one counter — a common starting point for Shanxi people who came to the capital in the mid-Qing. After being renamed Du Yichu in the seventeenth year of the Qianlong reign, the shop took the appellation of a traditional Han Chinese time-honored brand, yet shifted its entire focus onto wheaten food, making shaomai its sole specialty. The renovations after the 1980s concentrated on two ends — the filling and the wrapper color: tonic fillings such as hawthorn, 'Yipinhong,' and goji berry brought shaomai into the thinking of 'medicine and food sharing a common source,' while names such as two-tone, multicolored, emerald, and mint pushed the craft of the wrapper itself to the fore. Changing the filling with the seasons is also a local practice — cabbage, Chinese chives, fennel, pumpkin, scallion, and zucchini each paired with pork form a set, yielding a different flavor for each season; adding the arrangement of more than a dozen series and over thirty varieties spanning sour, sweet, salty, fresh, aromatic, and spicy, one sees the shop treating seasoning as a catalogue that can be endlessly listed. Thin wrapper and even pleats are the premise of all this: only when the 24-pleat closure holds can the fillings have room to play.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Du Yichu shaomai are uniquely distinctive — both delicious and of extremely high ornamental value. At present, problems such as a shortage of funds, limited room for development, and the difficulty of talent cultivation are affecting the development of Du Yichu and the smooth transmission of its shaomai-making craft; the relevant authorities should pay attention to this and formulate reasonable solutions.
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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