Zhenbutongluoyangshuixi Making Craftsmanship
01 · Historical Records
The history of the Luoyang Water Banquet (Luoyang Shuixi) must be understood on two levels. The culinary method is older than the banquet format itself: the Water Banquet takes soups and broths as its main dishes, and these soups are precisely the tradition left behind by the Eastern Zhou court banquets, which gave equal weight to the three "geng" soups—the dageng, the hegeng, and the (an ancient vessel for holding soup) geng. The Yu cuisine of the Luoyang area has preserved this principle, with the soup preceding the banquet. The way the banquet is composed came much later: it was only after the structure of Tang-dynasty feasts was passed down that the full-table format of "cold dishes first, then soups and broths, with the broths supporting the main body of the hot dishes" took shape. As for Zhenbutong, these two threads came together in the contemporary era: in 1997, Yao Yanli took charge of the Water Banquet and put forward the idea of "writing around the Tang dynasty, holding tightly to the hand of the Empress Wu," extrapolating from a single Water Banquet a total of five banquet suites—the Palace Water Banquet, the Empress Wu Water Banquet, the Prosperous Tang State Banquet, and the Nine Ding and Eight Gui Son of Heaven Banquet—expanding a single soup banquet into a genealogical system of banquets.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Luoyang Water Banquet of Henan Province is an important representative of Yu cuisine, named for its use of soups and broths as the main dishes of the banquet. Its culinary craftsmanship can be traced back as far as the Eastern Zhou period, while the compositional form of the banquet dates back to the Tang dynasty. The soups of the Luoyang Water Banquet were a principal category of early Chinese cooking and constitute the main body of the cuisine. During the Eastern Zhou period, court banquets placed emphasis on the "three geng"—the dageng, the hegeng, and the (an ancient vessel for holding soup) geng. The Yu cuisine and the local dishes of Luoyang have consistently upheld this tradition, attaching importance to the preparation of soup and broth dishes. After eight cold dishes, the Luoyang Water Banquet selects ten outstanding soup dishes from the sixteen dishes of Yu cuisine—the four great items, the eight middle items, and the four table-closing items—making them the principal component of the hot dishes across the whole banquet. In its selection of dishes, the Luoyang Water Banquet carries the tradition of substituting vegetarian for meat and making the false indistinguishable from the real, which requires profound culinary skill to accomplish. Although several restaurants in Luoyang operate the Water Banquet and related dishes, and folk households can imitate it, it is the Luoyang Zhenbutong Restaurant that represents those who have mastered the essence of the Luoyang Water Banquet and can produce it at high quality.
Ten soups after eight cold dishes
The hot courses are not a single dish but ten soups selected from sixteen staple preparations; cold dishes set the scene and the soups set the weight of the meal.
The three-soup system of the Eastern Zhou
The emphasis on soups continues the Eastern Zhou court rule of three principal broths, when soup was the substance of a meal rather than an accompaniment.
Vegetable for meat, imitation for the real thing
A long-standing rule requires vegetable preparations to imitate meat in both form and taste, which takes accurate observation, knife work and careful seasoning.
Court, Wu-emperor and High Tang banquets
After taking over in 1997, Yao Yanli packaged a series of Tang-inspired banquets, expanding one soup banquet into five.
The Nine Tripod and Eight Gui Banquet
One of the five banquets is named after the nine ding and eight gui ritual vessels, using the grading of ancient state vessels to regulate the menu.
Studying Shanghai, Hui and Huaiyang cooking in 1964
Yao Yanli trained in Shanghai, Hui and Huaiyang cooking at the Dali restaurant in Luoyang, a technical base for the later Tang-style banquets.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Within the city of Luoyang, those who operate the Water Banquet fall into two streams: the official and the folk. The official stream is led by Zhenbutong, whose banquet menu incorporates everything from the Eastern Zhou "three geng" to the structure of Tang feasts. In his early years, Yao Yanli trained at the Luoyang Dali Restaurant, where he studied Shanghai cuisine, Anhui cuisine, and Huaiyang cuisine; this external technique was later merged by him into the Tang-style Water Banquet, so that local Luoyang practice and outside practice converge within a single establishment. The folk stream reproduces the banquet piecemeal according to each family's lineage, mostly passing down the method for soups and broths but struggling to assemble a complete banquet. The regional character ultimately rests in two places: first, the flavor profile—the Luoyang Water Banquet stresses clear broths, intact ingredients, and tender-cooked dishes, substituting vegetarian for meat and making the false indistinguishable from the real, demanding two solid skills of knife work and seasoning; second, the format—selecting ten soup dishes from the sixteen dishes of Yu cuisine (the four great items, eight middle items, and four table-closing items) as the body of the hot dishes, a selection standard born of Luoyang's long-formed banqueting habits.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Yao Yanli (from the official records of the associated inheritor): Male, Han ethnicity, born in August 1949, a native of Luoyang City, Henan Province. Representative inheritor of the third national-level batch of intangible cultural heritage for the craft of the Luoyang Zhenbutong Water Banquet. Artisan of Luoyang Zhenbutong Water Banquet preparation. In 1964, at the Luoyang Dali Restaurant, he studied the culinary arts of Shanghai, Anhui, and Huaiyang cuisines under such teachers as Cheng Zaokai, Zhu Chanming, Wang Yuqiu, Xu Xiangrong, and Xu Jihuan. In 1997 he took charge of the Luoyang Zhenbutong Water Banquet. Based on its traditional craftsmanship, historical culture, and regional characteristics, and upholding Tang culture while blending in elements of Central Plains culture, he proposed the idea of "writing around the Tang dynasty, holding tightly to the hand of the Empress Wu," restoring and excavating, elevating and packaging, and launching the Palace Water Banquet, the Empress Wu Water Banquet, the Prosperous Tang State Banquet, the Nine Ding and Eight Gui Son of Heaven Banquet, and others—expanding the Water Banquet from one set to five, forming a distinctive culinary cultural character and enhancing the reputation and influence of the Luoyang Zhenbutong Water Banquet.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Yao Yanli 03-1433
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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