Naizhipin Making Craftsmanship
01 · Historical Records
In the 13th century Kublai set up the Bureau of Herds, which supplied and prepared meat and chagan ide exclusively for the Yuan court. A poem by the Yuan dynasty poet Sadula, "Cattle and sheep scatter beneath the setting sun, wild grass gives off fragrance and the milk curd is sweet", depicts the dairy food culture of that time. The related technique later spread among the common people, and Zhenglan Banner inherited the court chagan ide-making technique of the Yuan dynasty and carried it on and developed it down to the present day.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The dairy-making technique (chagan ide) is the traditional dairy-making technique of the Mongol ethnic group. "Chagan ide" literally translates into Chinese as "white food"; made from pure natural milk, it comes in many varieties and is delicious and nutritious, the finest of Mongol foods. The dairy-making technique (chagan ide) is at present mainly distributed in the Zhenglan Banner, Zhengxiangbai Banner and Xianghuang Banner areas in the south of Xilin Gol League in Inner Mongolia, with Zhenglan Banner being especially representative. The products of the dairy-making technique (chagan ide) include more than 30 kinds, such as dried fresh milk, filtered chagan ide and cheese. The basic craft is to process fresh milk by such means as fermentative transformation, separation and simmering over a gentle fire, using different techniques and procedures to make the various kinds of chagan ide. The separated whey can be made into milk wine, so that the whole of the fresh milk is used. Chagan ide production is complex, with delicate process steps and superb skill; its core element is the use of microbial transformation within a given time and under particular conditions to create a food of another texture and to elevate its nutritional value. The dairy-making technique (chagan ide) takes cow's milk, sheep's milk and the like as its main raw materials; these come from naturally pastured livestock, which guarantees the purity and nutritional value of the dairy products, and the raw materials are finely treated by hand-stirring and natural fermentation. The dairy-making technique (chagan ide) carries the food culture of the Mongol ethnic group and provides historical material for the study of the development of dairy food among pastoral peoples.
Archival Record of Process Steps
Chagan ide production is complex, with delicate process steps and superb skill; its core element is using microbial transformation, within a certain time and under specific conditions, to create a food of another texture and to elevate its nutritional value.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The chagan ide-making technique is most representatively found in Zhenglan Banner in the south of Xilin Gol League, which joins with Zhengxiangbai Banner and Xianghuang Banner to form a plateau belt of white-food production; the three banners have similar water and pasture but each follows customs of its own, and Zhenglan Banner excels at filtered chagan ide. Herding households process fresh milk in batches according to the season: in spring and autumn they make dried fresh milk, in high summer, when there is more whey, it is filtered out to make cheese, and the whey can also be brewed into milk wine.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
At present the transmission of this technique shows a positive and steady state, being handed down from generation to generation in herders' families through oral instruction and daily practice. Mongols regard white food as a noble and auspicious thing; whether for everyday meals, for entertaining guests, or for offerings to ancestors and spirits, chagan ide is indispensable. The heritage item has become part of Mongol daily life and has considerable social, cultural and economic value. Taogao (as recorded in the official archive of the associated inheritor): Female, Mongol, born in May 1963, a native of Zhenglan Banner, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. A representative inheritor of the fifth national-level batch of intangible cultural heritage items for the dairy-making technique (chagan ide). A dairy-making technician. She comes from a family long devoted to making chagan ide; her maternal grandmother Daolijinsu and her mother Hala were both chagan ide-makers well known throughout the locality. Taogao inherited the chagan ide-making technique accumulated by several generations of her forebears and, combining it with her own practical experience, constantly consulted and exchanged views with her mother, so that chagan ide-making both keeps its traditional, authentic flavour and better suits the tastes of modern people; her dairy foods enjoy a good reputation locally. She is keen to pass on her knowledge and has taught the chagan ide-making technique to more than ten local inheritors, including Taogesi and Gaowa.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Taogao 05-2903
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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